Metal Twins: vol 2 Into a Larger World
by HighKnighthood
Summary: Metalloy and Alloy are now adults. Forced to leave their home in Detroit by the police, the two brothers along with Lily travel the United States and beyond in order to avoid the authorities as another mysterious group takes an interest in the metal wielding twins. Along the way they may bump into a few interesting characters. Featuring Nightcrawler, Gambit, and the Black Panther.
1. Heat

Author's Note:

The following is a series of stories that chronicles the life of Matthew and Thomas Macarthur, two characters of the author's own creation. They are mutants living in the world of the X-Men.

This is the second of a series of volumes which are divided according to major events in the main characters' lives.

The universe in which this takes place is that of the movies _X-Men_ , _X2: X-Men United_ , and _X3: The Last Stand_. The story begins about 15 years prior to the movies and progresses up to and beyond the movies. The author has chosen to ignore movies made after _X3_ either because he was unwilling to modify the story as it already existed in his head or wanted to use characters from those movies in different ways.

This volume will contain more familiar X-Men characters then the previous volume, and more will come in following volumes.

* * *

 **Metal Twins**

 **Volume 2: Into a Larger World**

* * *

Heat (seven years prior to X:Men)

U.S. Marshall Richard Sten entered his apartment in Jacksonville, Florida. He had been living there for less than a month. He was working at the Marshall's regional headquarters there. Despite still getting use to the new setting, he had become adjusted enough to know when someone was in his apartment.

He took his gun out of his holster inside his jacket as though to put it away, but instead he kept it in his hand, as he entered his living room.

"Easy, there is no need for that."

"Just my way of expressing that this form of communication is beginning to annoy me." Sten sat down across from his uninvited guest, a man sitting in his favorite chair. _I think I should booby-trap that chair. That would teach 'em._ "It's my apartment. If I wish to sit with a gun in my lap, then I may. Why are you here?"

"To let you know, that there was a confirmed sighting of our targets in Miami."

"Interesting. I will need more than that to start an investigation. And if I magically come up with information of formerly unseen fugitives, even the Marshalls will get suspicious."

"No more information is necessary. The boss is already moving things on his end. But you ought to watch the reports from the Miami Dade Police Department. Take note of any mutant activity. You know what to look for."

"I will. I ought to say it was a pleasure having you over, but that would be a lie."

The man got up and began to leave. As he was about go through the door he turned around. "You know the importance that the boss puts on these two boys. There will be much reward for you if you aid him in this task."

"Good night to you too. Now leave before the night is no longer good." The man left, and Sten unloaded his gun. As he did so, he wondered what these two little boys from Chicago had done to merit all this attention.

* * *

Miami was growing on Thomas Macarthur. It had been ten months since they had left Detroit. Florida had been Thomas' idea. He choose it primarily for its distance from the Great Lakes region. He also desired warmer temperatures. They had come in the early spring which was pleasant, but the heat of summer was nearly unbearable. Now it was nearing winter and Thomas was quite happy with the change.

Thomas had just bought a load of groceries from a small market, and was heading back to the apartment. When he got to the apartment he coated his forehead with a thin layer of metal and gently pounded on the door with his head.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Matthew. Open up."

"I know you didn't lose your key."

"My arms are full."

The door opened, and a large 6'3" eighteen year-old man was standing in the doorway. Other than being a bit thicker in his muscular build this man looked almost exactly like Thomas. "Sorry, Alloy, I didn't realize that you needed a hand."

"No worries, Metalloy," Thomas said. The twin brothers only used their code names in private or in dangerous conditions.

"Thomas, you're back," said an excited blond woman. This was Lily, Matthew's girlfriend. She immediately came up to Thomas. "Did you find everything on the list?" She attempted to poke her head into the brown paper bags Thomas was holding, but he was too tall.

Thomas set the bags on the dining room table, and Lily dove in. "Yeah, I found everything. That was a long list. Do all those ingredients really help?" Thomas was only joking. The chief benefit that he got from Lily staying with them was her cooking. It was superb.

"Oh, yes."

One thing that wasn't on the list was herbs and small vegetables. Lily had a number of pots with soil where she grew many things. Lily was a mutant who was able to literally control plant life. She could instantly grow plants. She also could modify plants. Sometimes she would cook with an herb that she had engineered herself. Matthew and Thomas were her guinea pigs. They were willing to endure her occasional failures, because the vast majority of the time the food was excellent.

Matthew walked up to Lily. "Can I help you tonight?"

"Of course."

Matthew and Lily exchanged a kiss. Thomas looked away. He had long accepted and even encouraged Matthew having a girlfriend, but it was still awkward being around it. Even though Lily got her own room while he and Matthew shared the other one, the two love birds could be at times very affectionate.

"I will be in my room," said Thomas. Matthew and Lily acknowledged his departure and then began working on supper.

Thomas entered his small room and flopped on the bed. The twin bed was the only one they had, so the brothers took turns sleeping on the floor, switching every week. Thomas turned on the small TV in their room and desperately searched for something to watch.

Supper came and evening followed, and eventually all went to bed. Thomas was laying on the floor and about to fall asleep when he noticed that Matthew hadn't moved. _He always moves in his sleep. What's on his mind?_

"Metalloy, you asleep?"

"No."

"Something in the food keeping you up?"

"No."

"Come on, buddy, I know when something is bothering my brother."

Matthew sighed. "It this fair to her?"

"Is what fair?"

"You know what I mean, Alloy." And Thomas knew exactly what he meant. "Is it fair for me to drag Lily along with us? If the cops find us again, then we will have to run again."

"Lily knows that. She is coming with us on her own will. She comes because she wants to be with you. She is not a fugitive like us. She could leave any time she wants."

"Exactly, she can leave whenever. I can't help but feel that it might be wrong of me to ask her to stay permanently."

Thomas suddenly realized what was on his brother's mind. He paused for a while. And then he finally spoke. "That decision lies with her. If you want my advice, wait for a while longer, and then ask."

"Thanks, Alloy."

* * *

The next day none of the three were scheduled to work, so they went out together to a street market in one of the Cuban neighborhoods. Matthew was feeling better after his talk with Thomas the night before. _Who would have thought Alloy had such good advice._

But as they were walking Matthew noticed a change in the people. A mother grabbed her child. Other people were slowly entering stores. Some were moving behind objects. _Something is going on._ A glance at Lily told Matthew that she was oblivious to the change, but another glance told him that Thomas was fully tuned into the developments.

"Honey, I think I forgot my wallet. Let's go back and get it."

"But I saw you…" Matthew squeezed Lily's hand, and he felt her tense up as she realized what he was really saying.

They turned around to leave the neighborhood only to find that Thomas was already staring down a group of men that had come up behind them. Another group of men came to cut them off from the other side. Over all there were at least twenty men. Some had guns in their waist bands, but all were carrying a variety of hand weapons. _That's a lot of guys!_ Matthew wasn't concerned about himself or for Thomas, but for Lily.

The leader spoke threateningly in Spanish. Matthew faced him and merely responded, "Hablar Inglés, por favor."

"You have money, no?"

"Very little. And this is a lot of people for a robbery."

"These are my friends, they go wherever I do."

"I have thirty dollars and some change. If I give you that will you let us be?"

"That's barely a dollar apiece. What do you think, boys?" There was a general grumbling from the crowd along with a few shouts in Spanish. "Well, if we can't get more, then I guess we will just have to beat it out of you." The gang began to close it.

"Lily, stay between us. Alloy, stay close to home."

"Got it."

Matthew put up his hands in a fighting position. The leader suddenly charged with a crowbar raised over his head. He brought the crowbar on to Matthew, but Matthew raised his arm to block it. The crowbar hit his arm with a metal on metal clang. The gang leader's eyes widen as he looked upon Matthew's metal coated arm.

"Now you know there is a little more to us than meets the eye. Leave now, and we can all forget that this happened."

The gang leader was in doubt. But he must have still been confident in his numbers. "Bring down the mutants!"

Matthew didn't wait for the gang to come. He grabbed the crowbar and pulled. The leader foolishly hung on to it and allowed himself to be pulled in. At the same time Matthew gave him a fist to the face.

Then other gang members were on him. One swung a metal baseball bat. Matthew caught it in a metal coated hand and then kicked the man in the face. The next man tried to stab him in the back, but Matthew's secondary mutant ability alerted him to his danger. He twisted away from stab and grabbed the man by each arm so he couldn't defend himself. Lily swung her heavy purse right on top of his head.

Then two men jumped Matthew at the same time and pulled him down. He out wrestled them, breaking one man's arm and giving the other a bloody nose. _There's too many of them. Time to upgrade._

Matthew formed a solid metal tube in his closed hand and then kept adding metal to center extending the tube until it was a full length quarter staff. Producing a weapon in an almost magical fashion surprised his opponents, but they nonetheless charged. But Matthew had practiced quite a bit with this weapon in marital arts classes in which he had earned a black belt. He used the full advantage of the staff's long reach to keep the gang members from tackling him again and to keep them away from Lily. If Matthew's opponent hand a short weapon, like a switch blade, or broken glass bottle, Matthew would ignore the weapon and aim for their face. If they had a longer weapon, like a crowbar or baseball bat, he would block and redirect their blow then attack.

Matthew knew it wouldn't take long for them to give up and use their guns. _I have to get Lily out of here before the bullets fly._ Just as he thought about this he saw the gang leader pull his gun out of his waist band.

Then the ground broke apart, and various plants grew out of the cracks. Some of these plants reached and grabbed the legs of the gang member, who screamed in Spanish and tried to cut the plants. The gang leader fired shots at Matthew who blocked them with his metal arms. But the leader's legs were already covered in vines. He started screaming at his men.

"I think it is time to go," said Lily.

"I think so too. Alloy can you lead us out of here?"

"Sure thing, Metalloy."

The three moved like a slow unit. Thomas lead in front, Matthew walked in the rear, watching the gang the whole time. Lily was between the two brothers. Matthew got a good view of the market as he left. It was overgrown with plants. Finally he could see no more gang members. "Okay, go."

The turned and ran down a couple of streets until they were blocks away. Then they calmly boarded a bus. Just as the bus was leaving, cops flew by with their sirens on.

Matthew took a deep breath and then turned to Lily. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"That was some display back there. I didn't know you could do all that."

"Neither did I."

* * *

When they got back to their apartment Matthew and Lily collapsed on the couch, and Thomas sat in one of the other chairs. All three of them sat in silence for a while until Lily finally spoke up. "What happened?"

"That certainly was no robbery," said Thomas. "They clearly targeted us."

"Why?" asked Lily, looking first at Thomas. When he gave no answered she turned to Matthew.

"I have no idea," was all that Matthew could say. Then there was another long silence. This time it was Thomas that broke the silence.

"We are going to have to leave here."

"Leave?" Lily felt her gut drop. She had grown to like it here.

"Leave," said Matthew. "We drew far too much attention to ourselves today by displaying our mutant abilities. The police will be searching for us."

"They don't know who we are," Lily said, begging for a chance to stay.

"They don't need to know," answered Thomas. "All they need to know is that there are dangerous mutants in Miami. They will hunt us."

Lily bowed her head. "I don't suppose there is a chance we could remain here and not be noticed."

"There is a chance, but not a chance I am willing to take," said Matthew.

 _A chance he's not willing to take? He's talking about me._ Lily looked at Matthew and saw a sadness in his face. _He's sad to leave too. No, he's sad that I have to leave._ Then suddenly Lily realized what she had to do. She stood up, "Okay, then. We pack up what we can, and we leave." Then she began to pack. _This is what I signed up for, and I am not going to bail out at the first inconvenience._

Thomas went to pack of his things, but Matthew came up to Lily. "Are you sure you are alright with this?"

"I am not happy about it. But I am still sure that I want to run with you, just like I said back in Detroit." She turned and kissed him on the check. Matthew looked her in the eye, and Lily could see in the smile came to his face his appreciation. _These boys do so much for me. At least I can bear their trials with them._


	2. Love's Gambit

Love's Gambit (seven years prior to _X-Men_ )

From Miami they fled along the Gulf Coast, but they found out that their Midwestern behaviors and ascents made them stand out like a sore thumb in the South. They did however settle in New Orleans. There they found jobs and a crummy apartment they could barely pay for.

But Matthew was in good spirits. He and Thomas had become bouncers at a bar in the French Quarter. The winter was coming to an end, Mardi Gras was soon approaching, and things were busy. Although they were only nineteen, they were twenty-two according to their ID's. The managers were happy to hire two big, strong, young men to help them out. The managers found out quietly that these boys could handle themselves.

Lily worked the same bar at a waitress. Matthew hated the fact that all the male patrons were eyeing her. He privately vowed to find a better line of work for her. But Lily didn't mind, because the arrangement allowed them to work at the same time and to be free at the same time. Plus her tips brought in more money than both Matthew and Thomas combined. But Lily did have to put on serious makeup to cover her scar above her eye.

When away from work Matthew and Lily spent a lot of time together exploring New Orleans. It was a fascinating city. Matthew loved the history and culture of the old French settlement, and Lily loved the hot, humid climate and the rich soil of the Mississippi River Delta. She always spoke about all the great plants that could grow in this environment. Matthew found himself greatly enjoying spending all this time with Lily, and he wished that it would never stop.

Mardi Gras was in one week. And things were getting very busy. The manager had his staff working almost every day. But Matthew approached him. "Hey boss, I could really use a night off this week."

"That's tough. Doesn't the overtime pay make you want to work on?"

"I just want one night."

"I can't spare you on the weekend, and Tuesday is Mardi Gras. How about Thursday?"

"That would be great, but only if Lily can have that night too."

"That's asking a lot. Okay, but I can't spare both you and your brother on the same night."

"That's fine."

"Matthew," said Thomas approaching. "Did I hear that you and Lily are taking a night?"

"Yes, you did."

"You taking her out on the town?"

"Yeah, as well as we can afford." Matthew pulled a small box out of his pocket and showed it to Thomas.

Thomas whistled when he saw the contents. "That's quite the intricate metal work."

"Thanks, I took me weeks to…find something like this," Matthew corrected himself as the manger was still standing next to them. He didn't want to even hint at his mutant ability.

"I've never seen anything like it," said the Manager. "But this is New Orleans. People buy that kind of stuff here all the time. My advice is that she shouldn't wear it here. She won't get as many tips if she does."

"I will let her make that call. Thanks again, boss."

* * *

Thursday arrived quickly. Lily was clearly excited to see New Orleans in its prime time. Mardi Gras was still a few days away, but the city was already alive. Lily had put on the only dress that she possessed, and Matthew tried to dress nice as well.

Thomas was dressed for work, and as he took off he wished them an enjoyable night. But as he slipped out he whispered, "Good luck, Metalloy."

Nothing they did was very fancy, since they couldn't afford much. But they ate a local restaurant where they enjoyed authentic New Orleans food. Then they listened to a jazz street musician. When he had finished his song, Lily throw a few dollars into his trumpet case. Then she sat back down in her chair. "What a beautiful night!"

 _Now, Metalloy, do it now._

"A beautiful night indeed. There is one thing that would make it perfect."

"What is that?"

Matthew dropped down to his knee and opened the small box. "If you, Lily Davis, would agree to marry me."

Lily sat there wide eye and speechless for three heart pounding seconds. Then she smiled and said, "Yes, I would."

Matthew let out his nerves in a laughter. He fumble with the box, but managed to get the ring out. Lily extended her left hand, and Matthew placed the ring on her finger. He then manipulated the ring's metal to make it a perfect fit. For the ring was indeed made of his own metal. It lacked a gem stone, because he couldn't afford one, but in its place was an intricate metal design in the shape of a flower with an 'M' behind it.

Lily marveled at it for a second, "It's beautiful" Then she gently pulled on Matthew's arm until he stood up, and gave him a great big kiss. The other patrons of the small restaurant gave a round of cheers, and one couple bought them each a glass of champagne. The joy of that night never left Matthew's memory.

* * *

Thomas was happy for Matthew and Lily. He truly was. But he knew that things were going to change now. _They already are changing._ He didn't know if it was loneliness that he was experiencing or something else. More and more he felt that he was just a tag-a-long. The fact was that he and Matthew had been almost inseparable since sharing their mother's womb. But now there was someone else in the picture, someone who would step in between him and Matthew. _You knew that this might happen back when they started dating, and you approved of it back then. You need to get over this, Alloy._

"Thomas, will you check in on the back room and see if things are alright?" asked the shift manager.

"Yeah, boss." _Good something else to occupy my mind._

Thomas walked towards the back room. That room was for private parties or events. On this particular night it was a high stakes poker game. Thomas entered the room. "Everything going well, gentlemen?"

"Everything except this guy taking all our money," said one of the men at the table.

Thomas's eyes followed the man's finger. There sitting comfortably behind a large pile of poker chips was a young man in a long trench coat. His smile was the kind that a person had when he was toying with his opponents. _Must be a good card player,_ thought Thomas as the man played with the poker chips in his hand.

"Your deal, Remy," said another man at the table. "No one can play that good for too long. You'll make a mistake, and there will be quite the pot for whoever can cash in on it."

"Maybe," said the man in a thick Cajun accent. "But you will have to play to find out." He began to shuffle the cards in a very fancy style. _That's cool._ But Thomas noticed that everyone was watching this Remy guy real close. _Uh oh. They think he's cheating._ Thomas knew that things could get bad if the accusation of cheating was thrown around. _Better stay here and make sure things stay under control. Please don't let this Remy guy win while he's the dealer._

"That's good enough, Remy. Just deal the cards."

"Sure thing." Remy dealt out two cards to all six players at the table. Thomas leaned back against the bar to watch.

The players each matched the required blind bet, but the one to Remy's right raised. Remy and four others called, but one man folded. Thomas leaned back to the bartender. "How has the game been going?"

The bartender leaned in and whispered. "This Remy guy has be slowly eating at each of these men's chip stacks. They have all been gentlemen about it, but tension is rising. I am glad that you are here."

Thomas didn't like that answer. He continued to watch as Remy placed one card in the discard pile and flopped three over, 7 of spades, jack of spades, and 7 of hearts. All the men took in the new cards. The first man to Remy's left made a small bet. Others call it, but Remy made a significant raise. The first man called the raise, but the next two folded. There was just one more man to act.

"I think you are making that mistake I was predicting."

"Maybe, but you have to pay to play."

"I can do better than that. I re-raise." Thomas watched as the man pushed a significant amount of chips into the center. _How much are those things worth?! There is probably more money in that pot then I will make in a year or two._ Thomas looked over at the other table where the buy in money was kept, and he saw a lot of bills.

Remy smiled. "I can play with that." And he matched the other man's bet. The man to Remy's left folded, leaving only the two men left. "Pot's good," said Remy smoothly as he discarded another card and then revealed the turn card, 6 of clubs.

"Check to you, Mr. Remy."

"I will bet." Remy put a large amount of chips in the pot.

The other man was taken aback from the size of the bet, but he recovered. "You can't buy your way out of this one, son." And he called the bet.

Remy discarded the final card, and revealed the river card, the queen of diamonds. "Your move."

"Last chance," said the man as he pushed more chips in. "Fold or lose big."

"Nah, I'll raise," said Remy pushing in even more chips.

"Fool." Then man called Remy's raise and then turned over his cards. "Full House, sevens over Jacks. Had it from the flop."

Remy paused for a bit and then turned over his two cards, the queen of spades and the queen of hearts. "I never bet against the ladies. Full House, queens over sevens."

The man suddenly stood up. "You didn't even have a hand until the river card. You…you cheated!"

Thomas was now standing at the table. "Please sit down, sir! If you have evidence of this man's cheating then please show us. We can handle such situations. Otherwise be careful with your accusations. We will not be haven't any unnecessary conflicts."

But the man didn't sit down. "Just who exactly are you, Mr. Remy?"

Remy smiled. "The name's Remy LeBeau." Thomas made nothing of the name, but then realized that two other men at the table had suddenly stood up. _Uh oh, I don't think they like that name_.

"Any connection to Jean-Luc LeBeau?" asked the man who had just lost the poker hand.

"Yes, lots of connection to him and the rest of the Thieves' Guild. But we are all friends here. You can call me Gambit."

"Mr. LeBeau, you have a lot of nerve taking money from the Assassins' Guild."

"It's just a friendly game of cards, right?" LeBeau was still holding the queen of hearts in his hand.

The three men standing were still staring LeBeau down. The other two poker players had slowly moved away from the table, and the bartender was hiding behind the bar. And Thomas was right in the middle of it.

"If there is going to be trouble, gentlemen, I suggest you take it outside."

"Stay out of this, bouncer."

"Okay, just get out of my bar."

"Not, until LeBeau here returns my money." The man pulled out a gun. His two companions also produced pistols.

LeBeau just smiled. He flipped the queen of hearts between his fingers. He seemed content to do nothing.

Thomas on the other hand was not content. "Sir, put the gun away, and leave now!"

"Or else what?" The man turned his gun on Thomas.

"Put the gun away, or else I break your arm."

The man was taken back. He hadn't expected to be threaten when he was the one holding the gun. Thomas had no fear of the man's gun. His only fear was the other people who might get hurt if bullets started to fly. The bartender was still hiding, and the wall to the main part of the bar was not all that thick.

The man recovered. "Boys take the money and let's leave." The two companions began to move towards the cash on the table next to them. But they stopped when LeBeau stood up.

"You want your money, go ahead and take it." The queen of hearts suddenly glowed red, and LeBeau threw the playing card at the cash. It exploded on impact.

 _What the heck was that?!_ But before Thomas could react, LeBeau had produced a long collapsible weapon from inside his long coat. _Great! A bo staff! This is going to be like fighting Metalloy._

But LeBeau was already on the move. He jump right on top of the poker table and struck nearest man on the wrist, causing him to drop his gun. Then he delivered a blow to the man's gut. The second man was attacked before he even knew what hit him. The last man tried to move his gun from Thomas to LeBeau, but was too late. He was knocked to the ground.

Thomas moved in to engage this man Gambit. Gambit wasted no time in directing a blow to Thomas' head, but Thomas saw it coming and ducked it. He aimed two punches at Gambit's gut, but encountered some tough material. _Light body armor, interesting._

But now Thomas had to back out of the range of Gambit's bo staff. Gambit tried to trip him, but again Thomas saw it coming and jumped over the staff. But the next blow came so fast that no amount of foresight would allow Thomas to dodge it. So he blocked it with his metal coated arm.

The clanging noise cause Gambit to show the first look of surprise that Thomas had seen. "The name's Alloy, and you messed with the wrong bouncer." Alloy now pressed the attack. He was trying to get in too close for Gambit to use his staff effectively. But Gambit in a surprisingly agile move leapt off the poker table and took a defensive position.

Alloy focused his metal forming ability until he had in his hands a pair of tonfas. The arm length metal batons with the 90° handle were Alloy's nonlethal weapon of choice; whereas Metalloy preferred the quarter staff. Alloy twirled the tonfas in his hands, "Never fought another mutant before. This ought to be interesting."

Gambit accepted the challenge with a twirl of his bo staff. "Do you want to wager on the outcome?" Then each of the armed opponents took combat positions.

Gambit struck first. He jumped forward twirling his staff in order to disguise the direction of the attack. What Gambit didn't know was that Alloy could see in his foresight ability all dangers to himself. Thus Alloy easily blocked four quick blows from Gambit.

Then it was Alloy's turn for an offensive. He switched his tonfas from the defensive position guarding his forearms to an attack position with the long end of each tonfa extended beyond his arm. The first blow was a vertical over head with his right tonfa, which Gambit blocked with the center of his staff. The next was a sweep of the legs with his left tonfa, which Gambit leapt over. Before Alloy could get in a third blow he had to duck under the end of Gambit's staff aimed at his head.

The battle continued for another minute or two. Both opponents were skilled with their chosen weapons, and both used the furniture and other items in the room in attempts to trip the other. Soon the room was a wreck. The bartender and the other men in the room had already fled.

Alloy felt a bit of weariness sneak into his body. _Dang! Tired already. I got to get that staff away from this guy._ Then he had an idea. He manipulated the metal of both tonfas to turn their handles into hooks. Then he held them by the ends of their batons and hooked them onto Gambit's staff. Gambit twirled his staff and pulled Alloy's tonfas out of his hands.

But that was exactly what Alloy wanted. Although he had let go of the tonfas he still held the thin line of metal string that he attached to their ends. With all his might Alloy yanked on the strings. He had expected either to be bested by Gambit's grip or to feel the staff come loose. What he didn't expect was to see Gambit flying over his head and landing on the other side of him. _This guy should be in the circus._

Gambit dislodged the tonfas. As he held one it became red as though it was charged with energy. Then he threw it at Alloy. Alloy's warning sense told him to get clear of the charged tonfa. He just got out of the way before it exploded.

 _No one destroys my things!_ Alloy charged directly in. He spun away from a vertical strike by Gambit's staff, and closed the distance between the two of them. _Try using that stick at this close range._ Alloy block another strike from the staff with his left arm, and then delivered a right punch to Gambit's side, right between his chest and back armor. He heard a grunt of pain from Gambit, but he wasted no time in rapping Gambit's knuckles with his own armored hand, causing Gambit to drop his staff.

Having disarmed his opponent Alloy now seemed to have the edge in the fist fight, and he was determined to press his advantage. Gambit was forced to retreat, and Alloy almost had him cornered where the two exterior brick walls of the building met. Then Gambit pulled a playing card from inside his long jacket. The card turned red, and he threw it behind Alloy. Alloy foresaw the explosion, but it still knocked him over. Gambit had somehow got around Alloy and was now holding his staff again. _Enough with the stupid stick! And what's with these exploding objects?_

Gambit thrust his staff forward. Alloy easily dodged it, but the staff hit the brick wall behind him. The wall came down on top of Alloy. He had to armor himself from falling bricks, and it took all his strength to stay on his feet. _How did he get that much force into one thrust?_ Alloy got his answer when Gambit thrust again.

But this time Alloy's feet were stuck in bricks, and he couldn't dodge. All he could do was take the blow in the chest. But his warning sense told him that there was a whole lot more energy in the blow than a normal human could put into it. The staff hit him squarely on the chest, and Alloy was knocked clear out into the alley. Despite armoring his chest it hurt, and rolling on the pavement didn't feel good either.

Alloy slowly got to his feet, and dusted off his pants. Gambit stood in the hole in the wall. He collapsed his staff, and pulled out two playing cards. Noting the escalation Alloy formed two daggers on his forearms, his lethal weapon of choice, and dropped them into his hands. Gambit threw the card in his right hand, but Alloy was already moving away from the explosive, throwing one of his knives in the process. He didn't see whether he hit or not, as he was dodging another explosive playing card. Gambit's third card hit the alley pavement obscuring Alloy's sight. He threw his second knife into the cloud of smoke for good measure before crouching down and waiting for the air to clear.

As soon as the smoke cleared Alloy saw Gambit, but now he was covered in blue and red lights. Then Alloy noticed the police sirens. He and Gambit exchanged glances. The fight was over, and neither wanted to deal with the cops. Gambit nimbly jumped up and grabbed a fire escape ladder. Then he used his staff to somehow propel his way across the alley onto the opposite fire escape. He then climbed the building and got away.

"I guess I escape the traditional way," said Alloy to himself as he turned and ran out of the alley just as the cops pulled in to close it off.

* * *

Matthew and Lily returned to the apartment around midnight that evening. It had been a great night, and Matthew felt happier than he had ever felt. Matthew unlocked the door and opened it for Lily. But he noticed a change come over Lily once she entered the apartment.

"What is it?" But she was looking at something. Matthew followed her gaze and saw Thomas sitting on the couch attempting to throw playing cards at the chair across from him. "Thomas, what are you doing here?"

"They're too light, playing cards. They don't fly straight. Maybe it's in the wrist flick."

"Thomas, why are you home? I thought your shift ended at two."

"Shift ended early on account of a rather nasty brawl." Thomas dropped the cards and looked at Matthew. "The poker game in the back room got out of hand. Some sort of feud between criminal organizations. I tried to stop it, but one of the guys was a mutant."

"You fought another mutant!" said Lily.

"Yeah, and he was good. The cops came, and we both left."

"The cops came!" said Matthew alarmed. "We gave our address to the owner. They will find us here."

"I know. That's why I've packed my things and yours. Lily needs to pack hers, and then we can be gone." Thomas looked over at Lily. "I'm really sorry, Lily. I know you liked it here."

"It's okay," said Lily, but Matthew could hear her choke a little as she held back some tears. "I'd best be packing." She went to her room.

Thomas continued to throw the playing cards. They flew off in different directions. Matthew sat next to him. "What was the other mutant like?"

"He was good. He fought with a bo staff." Matthew raised his eyebrows. "Luckily I had practice sparring with you. But he also could make things explode. He liked throwing exploding playing cards." Thomas tried one more card throw, then in frustration he threw a knife which perfectly embedded itself in the back of the chair. He sighed and looked at Matthew. "This is not the way I wanted to congratulate you. I am sorry if I ruined your night."

"You didn't ruin it. Put a little damper on it, maybe, but nothing could have ruined it."

"She said yes?"

"She said yes."

Thomas smiled and put his arm around Matthew. "Then I think I know where we need to go next."

* * *

The Elvis impersonator was just about done with his shift when a new couple approached. The man was tall and built. He wore a suit with a white bow tie. The woman was small compared to him but probably average height. She had on a simple but nice white wedding dress. She held herself well and in many ways she seemed more beautiful than many of the impersonator's other customers, despite a noticeable scar above her eye. Another couple was with them. The other man looked almost exactly like the groom, except less muscular. _Clearly brothers._ The other woman was clearly a local Vegas girl. _Needed another witness I guess._ The impersonator took a breath and let the Elvis flow out of him.

"Welcome to the Graceland Chapel of Love. I am the King of Rock 'n' Roll himself, and I'll be your minister. If you have the proper paper work then we can get this love show started."

The two handed him all the paper work, and paid him up front. It was in good order, so he began. This was going to be his last one of the night, so he'd thought he would make it a good one. He put his best Elvis forward. But he noticed that the couple didn't seem to be into the act. Rather they were staring deeply into each other's eyes. _These two may actually be in love._ None-the-less he was paid to be Elvis, and so Elvis he was.

When it came time for the vows the couple insisted on their own vows. _Takes some of my thunder, but oh well._ The man went first.

"I Matthew Macarthur take you Lilian Davis to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part"

"I Lilian Davis take you Matthew Macarthur to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part."

 _That's very traditional. These two are too serious and not fun enough. Well, Elvis, you are paid for their fun, not yours._ "By my authority as the King of Rock 'n' Roll and the authority invested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

The man and the woman shared a kiss. It was not the overly sexualized kiss that the impersonator was used to seeing, but a long meaningful kiss. _These two are serious._ "Now turn to my assistant and smile for the camera." The bride and groom smiled as the assistant took two pictures with the Polaroid camera. She gave one to the bride and pinned the other on the wall of photos.

The impersonator had the two witnesses sign the paper work. Just as he was looking at the papers again. The groom slipped him a tip. "Oh, thank you, thank very much." He pocketed the money and looked at the papers. _Hey, wait a minute._ The names on the paper were not the ones by which the bride and groom addressed each other in the vows. "Now, just hold on here for a second."

But the newly-weds were gone.


	3. Metal on Metal

Metal on Metal (five years prior to _X-Men_ )

The first year was like a dream to Matthew. Despite the constant moving around, he was married to the girl he loved. They had spent a month in Vegas prior to their marriage in order to set up their fake ID's, get the marriage license, and find a willing maid of honor for Lily. After the wedding they left Nevada altogether, before anyone could attempt to follow the paper trail of their fake identities.

Thomas wanted to go west to California, but Lily wanted to go east. First they went to Texas and spent the summer there. But they discovered that they didn't fit in all that well in the Lone Star State. Nervous that they would be exposed, they traveled north to Colorado and settled in Denver. There they found work. Thomas was again a bar bouncer, despite Matthew's urgings. But Matthew and Lily worked together at a greenhouse and tree nursery. There Matthew was a grunt who hauled stuff around, while Lily proved to be a master at raising plants while keeping her mutant ability a secret.

All in all Matthew loved his life, and began to settle into his new role as a husband.

* * *

Thomas knew things would change once Matthew was married, but he didn't realize how much. He had anticipated that Matthew and Lily would now share a room, leaving him by himself, he knew that the two of them would show more affection for each other, and he knew they would spend more time just the two of them.

But he didn't realize how much he would be left alone. For his whole life he and Matthew were together, but now it felt like there was a growing distance between him and his brother.

He had tried to get Matthew to a Rockies baseball game, but Matthew didn't want to go. The more Thomas tried to spend time with Matthew the more he realized that his brother only wanted to be with Lily. He figured this tread would last quite a while, at least until the "honeymoon" phase ended.

That is why Thomas took a different job from Matthew. He needed space away from loving couple. It was not like it was unpleasant being around them. It was just awkward. He had on occasion felt like a third wheel before the marriage, but not like this.

But work didn't keep him away at all times. Some days none of the three would work. So they would just be together in their apartment. Thomas would just stare at the TV. Over the air cable got boring quickly. So Thomas decided to go out.

At first he visited the bar where he worked. But the manager told him it wasn't a good idea to drink at the same place he worked, so he frequented other bars in the Mile-High City. He would have a few beers over the course of a couple hours, and then headed home.

He could tell that Matthew was concerned about his nights out. Matthew had tried a few times to breach the topic, but Thomas dodged it, and Matthew gave up. But it was Lily who seemed most upset. Not that she ever said anything, but Thomas did not like the looks that she gave him whenever he would come home. But those looks made him want to leave all the more.

All these problems came to a crashing point one night, over a year after Matthew and Lily's wedding day. It was Matthew and Thomas' twenty-first birthday. Lily wanted to celebrate the day with Matthew. They were going to a restaurant. They of course invited Thomas, but he really didn't want to be their third wheel for a nice sit down meal. Plus there would be no alcohol with Lily. Thomas understood why, given Lily's background, but it was his twenty-first birthday. He ought to drink something now that he was legally old enough.

 _Not that that's stopped me before._ All three of them had fake ID's that made them older than they really were. If their ID's reflected their exact age, they would likely be caught by the authorities. Plus being older made it easily to get jobs, especially as bouncers in bars.

Thomas went into the downtown district. He entered a random bar and went for a drink. "Coors, please." _That's what they all drink here._

"ID, sir."

"Of course," Thomas pulled out his ID. It was a real ID issued by the state of Colorado. He and Matthew had figured out how to forge birth certificates way back when they lived with Victor in Chicago. It often involved breaking into a state office and coping an office state seal stamp with their own metal making abilities. The bartender glance quickly at the ID and then got him his beer.

Thomas sat at the bar for a while, slowly drinking his beer, wondering if Matthew and Lily were having a good time without him. _I hope they are, I think._ Did he really hope that? Was there a part of him that wished they weren't so happy together? _That's crazy. Of course I want my brother to be happy._ Still it bothered him to see them so happy.

After an hour of distracting himself his thoughts kept coming back to this line of thinking. _Why would I not be happy if Metalloy's happy? What am I, jealous?_ Thomas stopped at that thought. Was he jealous? _That's ridiculous, or is it?_ Thomas really hadn't given much thought to dating. Partly that was because he was on the run. _But what if I wasn't?_

Thomas ordered another beer as he continued to mull on this thought. _Who would I even date? I don't know any girls other than Lily._ Thomas decided to look around at the bar crowd. There were plenty of women around. Some were with guys, and some were alone. They were for the most part a number of years older than Thomas. But the night was still young. Thomas knew from his work that many girls not much older than him would come later, and they would come in groups.

He sighed as he finished his scan of the bar patrons. But just as he was about to return to his beer his eye caught a girl. She was sitting alone at a small table near the window. She looked to be about Thomas' age, perhaps even here with a false ID, and she was quite attractive. As she emptied her glass of beer she caught Thomas' eye, and gave him a mischievous smile.

Thomas returned her smile, but turned back to his beer. _Hot girl, but I don't know if I would want to approach someone that flirtatious. Seems like it could end badly._

Unfortunately for Thomas it began badly. Like he predicted, the girl approached him. But unlike he predicted, her boyfriend came with her. "You eyein' my girl, pal?" asked the angry boyfriend.

 _Oh great, it's high school all over again._ "No, man. I am just here to drink my beer."

"No, I saw you. You were eyein' my girl."

"No, I wasn't." _Actually I was._

"Listen pal." The man paused to burp, and Thomas realized that this man was drunk. "You better not be eyein' my girl, or I'll have…to teach you… a lesson." The man shook his finger at Thomas spilling a bit of his beer in the process.

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Are you calling my girl ugly?"

 _Stupid drunk! Why can't he just leave?_ Thomas dropped the apologetic nice voice. "No, I am not. I just want to drink my beer and go home. I don't care about you or your girl. You can leave now."

"Nobody…talks about my girl that way." The man came up to Thomas, but backed down a bit when Thomas stood up. He must not have realized that Thomas was a good half foot taller than him.

"I don't want trouble, but there will be some if you don't leave me alone now."

The man seemed to consider that for a moment, but then dropped his beer and went for a really wide right hook. It was painfully slow and obvious. Thomas blocked the hook and grabbed the man by the shirt. "Go, and sober up. And don't pick fights you can't win."

But the man wasn't rational anymore. He tried to hit Thomas again, but Thomas dropped him. He barely kept on his feet. As he made another move, Thomas punched him hard in the gut. The man doubled over and fell to the ground. The girl screamed.

Then the man pulled a switch blade out of his pocket. "Now I'll get you."

"Hey man, you're drunk. Put that away." Thomas held his hands up, but he kept his knees slightly bent, and stood on the balls of his feet.

"No one hits me and gets away with it."

"You don't know who you're fighting. Put the knife away before I hurt you."

The man didn't listen. He stabbed forward. Thomas, armed with his foresight ability simply reached out, grabbed the man by the wrist, and twisted until he heard the pop of a broken bone. The man cried out in pain and fell on the ground holding his arm. His girlfriend went to him. And a light suddenly shined in Thomas's eyes.

"That's quite enough now," said the voice behind the flash light. "You three are coming with us." The cop then approached with handcuffs.

 _Oh, crap!_

* * *

Matthew got the call from Thomas. But when he told Lily about it, saying that she was unhappy about it was an understatement.

"He did what?!"

"Got in a fight, and was arrested."

"Where?"

"He didn't say, but they don't know who he is yet. If I get there quickly we can get out of here before they realize who we really are."

"He was at a bar, wasn't he?"

Matthew hesitated. He knew that Lily was probably right. But he wasn't in the habit of ever speaking against his brother; not back when he got into excessive fights in high school and not now when he was frequenting bars. Matthew always knew that he was to back his brother up no matter the circumstances, and that Thomas would do the same for him. But now with Lily standing in front of him and the anger in her eyes Matthew wasn't so sure anymore.

"I know that he has been frequenting bars, even if you won't tell me," said Lily. "I can smell the beer on his breath."

"He has never come home drunk. He must be having only a few beers and no more."

"You know how I feel about alcohol!"

The force with which Lily spoke took Matthew off guard. He did indeed know where Lily was coming from. Alcohol had turned her daddy from a kind loving father into an abusive drunk.

"Lily, Thomas is not like your father."

"Neither was Daddy, not until he started drinking. Maybe he does not hurt either of us, but he hurts us in other ways. We have to leave Denver, and not because of some cops or some accident, but because he got into a fight he never should have. We will never be able to settle down. And I will not live with a man who drinks!"

Matthew sighed. He knew that Lily was right. Suddenly Matthew knew what he needed to do. Never before had such thoughts entered his mind, but when he looked at Lily's hurt and angry face, he knew.

Matthew grabbed his jacket. "Where are you going?" asked Lily.

"I am going to settle this. Pack your things. We will have to leave. But I will make sure that this doesn't happen again."

* * *

Thomas sat in the holding cell with three other men. One was passed out on the bench. Another was a young boy who timidly sat in the corner. _He's probably scared to death. I wonder if he is more frighten of me and the other guy or of what his daddy will say when he comes to bail him out._ The last man in the cell was a wiry little guy who looked fidgety. _Probably high on some drug._

"Thomas White, you have a visitor." This was the code name that he and Matthew had developed to protect both their real identities and whatever secret identities they had developed. Thomas stood up and walked to the bars. Matthew came and stood in front of him.

"Thanks for coming."

"Don't thank me." Thomas was caught off guard by the anger in Matthew's voice. _I guess I deserve a bit of that, but I haven't heard Metalloy like this before._

At that moment the man on drugs approached. "Hey, man. If you pay my bail, I'll make it worth it."

Before Thomas could do anything Matthew reached through the bars, grabbed the man by the shirt, and pulled him to the bars. "This is a private conversation. So unless you want me to pull you through these bars one piece at a time, I suggest you sit down in that corner."

The guard came up behind Matthew to calm the situation. But in one fluid motion Matthew let go of the druggy, turned on the guard, twisted the guard around, and made improvised cuffs. He then lowered the guard to the ground slowly. "I don't want to hurt you or anyone else. Just be quiet for a bit, and you will never have to deal with us again."

The guard was so surprise that he did nothing. Thomas too was surprised. He knew that Matthew didn't have the money for bail, and that leaving Thomas overnight would allow the cops to figure out who he really was. But Thomas did not expect Matthew to take such action without some persuasion or consultation.

Matthew stood up and faced Thomas. "Why aren't you through the door already?"

Thomas shook himself out of his shock and began to pick the lock. The druggy approached again, but immediately withdrew when Matthew took a threating step towards him. Thomas was able to open the door. He went through and then slapped a metal ring around the bars of the door and the cell. "Sorry, I am the only one getting out of here tonight."

Matthew grabbed Thomas by the arm. "This way." And the two of them escaped the lockup. They ran a number of blocks in order to avoid pursuit. All the time Matthew was eerily quiet. _I have never seen Matthew this angry at me._

Finally when they were far enough away from the police station on some abandoned street Matthew spoke. "They never found out your name?"

"No, I told them my name was Thomas White, and I dumped my ID before they put me in the car."

"Good, then the apartment is not in immediate danger, and we have time to talk."

"Talk about what?" But Thomas actually knew what the topic of this talk was going to be.

"About how you keep forcing us to move."

"New Orleans was not my fault!"

"Wasn't it? You didn't have to fight that mutant. You didn't have to reveal yourself." Thomas opened his mouth to respond, but part of him knew Metalloy was right.

"And now on top of it all you are beginning to drink."

"I had two beers; a beer and a half actually. The other guy was drunk. That's why the fight started."

"Two beers is too many."

"Since when?"

"Since Lily joined us."

"So this is about Lily." Thomas felt the frustration that had been building up for the last couple months come to the surface.

"Yes, this is about Lily. It is about me doing everything I can to provide a home for my wife. And I can't do that with you fighting and drinking."

"The drinking again! I am not a drunk."

"It doesn't matter!" shouted Matthew. Then he paused, "When Lily smells the alcohol on your breath, she remembers her father, and all the evil things he did. You and I should understand that better than most."

With that Thomas felt the frustration and anger boil over. "You did not just compare me with our father."

"What…no."

Thomas stepped forward and pounded his finger in Matthew's chest. "You should know that I would never hurt Lily or any woman. You should know that!"

Matthew swatted Thomas' hand. "Even if you do not hurt her, you are constantly reminding her. Not only of him, but of our pitiful state in life; constantly having to move."

"We're fugitives! If you didn't want this life for her, then you should have never married her!"

"Is that it?! Is that what drives you away. Jealously now that I am married. That there is someone in my life besides you."

"Don't be so big headed. You are not the center of my life." That wasn't entirely true. Thomas knew that his brother was the only friend he had. But at this moment Thomas was angry; angry enough to say things that he didn't mean. And he had one more thing to say. "And don't you go about blaming me for your inability to support your wife."

That did it. Despite his warning sense, Matthew's blow still caught Thomas off guard. He didn't want to believe it was true. He only armored his face at the last second. The right hook to the face knocked Thomas to the ground.

But by the time he hit the ground surprise had given way to anger. Thomas rolled to his knees, rose to his feet, and then closed in on Matthew with his fists in a boxing position. He delivered a right and a left to Matthew's face, but his brother easily dodged them. Then his brother unleashed a barrage of his own to Alloy's gut. The metal armor took the brunt of the blows, and Alloy delivered a left hook of his own to Metalloy's armored face.

So the brothers fought. Their identical dual mutant abilities kept the match even. Both could see the other's blows before they happened, and both could armor both their bodies in defense and their hands in offense. Metal hit metal. Punishing blow followed punishing blow. The sound of the fight sounded like the beating of hammer and anvil. The occasional friction spark would fly. Their shirts were torn by the metal of the other's fists.

Matthew was the stronger, and Thomas felt the impact of every blow despite armoring himself. Thomas on the other hand was faster, and he was able to land more blows on Matthew even if they were not as powerful. Soon the battle became an endurance match. Who would give up first?

In fact this was the unspoken rules of the contest. Neither brother made weapons, and neither brother attempted to grapple, wrestle, pin, or throw the other. This was a straight boxing match in which neither held back. This was a venting of all the anger and stress that had built up between the brothers and driven them apart over the past year. The question to be settled was whose anger would win: The strong man standing next to his wife, or the brother who was pushed away as an unneeded third wheel?

The thing of it was that from the very beginning Alloy knew who was going to win this fight. He ducked a jab from Metalloy and then unleashed a punishing barrage of jabs to Metalloy's gut. He was too close for Metalloy to block or dodge. He effectively had Metalloy 'on the ropes' as he pinned him against a wall. Metalloy guarded his face with his metal coated arms, but Alloy threw punch after punch into his gut, and even slipped an upper cut to Metalloy's jaw.

But then Alloy took the ever slightest pause for a breath, and suddenly Metalloy made his move. He pushed Alloy back and let loose not a series of short jabs, but a hail of power hooks and thrusts. He hit Alloy in the ribs and the side of the head. Alloy was unable to block every blow with his arms and unwilling to back out of Metalloy's range. With each blow he felt his energy leaving him. His will to fight was falling. He managed to block a punch to his right ribs and for the moment regain the offensive against his brother, but Metalloy absorbed his blows and took back control of the fight.

Finally Alloy took a right punch to the face. He tried to keep his footing, but weariness took over, and he fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but he no longer had the strength. Alloy was defeated.

The outcome of the fight had little to do with strength or speed. It even had little to do with skill, for the brothers were evenly matched. But it had everything to do with strength of will. And in this Thomas was the weaker. He knew that his actions were hurting Matthew and Lily, and he knew that his place in his brother's life was changing. In the end he knew that his brother was right, and he knew from the beginning that Metalloy was going to be the victor.

Thomas gained enough energy to roll over on to his back. As he did he felt Matthew fall on the ground beside him. He heard Matthew give a great sigh of weariness. His brother was completely exhausted too. Both lay there side by side in weariness and pain. Finally Thomas spoke, "the only fight I've ever lost."

Matthew sighed, "What are we doing, Alloy?"

"You know just as well as I do what we are doing. We're saying good bye."

"What?"

Thomas took a breath. "You are right. I am acting out because I'm feeling that I am losing my place in our relationship. I have been denying it for some time, but this was the path we started down once you started dating Lily. And now she is your wife, and I am just your brother."

"Just my brother? Even if that was the case that is no small thing, Alloy. But you are the man who stood with me against our father, and stayed with me through all our troubles."

"I know, but now you have a wife. You two now share something that I can't participate in. You need her, and she needs you. And I need to respect that."

"This is never what I wanted to happen, Alloy."

"I know, but this is what it is." Thomas slide his hands behind his head. "It's okay, really. We helped each other to rise out of our horrors, and now you have found what you need to do. You need to be a better husband than our father ever was."

"And what about you?"

"I don't know, but it's time I found out. Unfortunately I will never find out if I tag along after you and Lily. It's time we spilt, Metalloy."

Matthew was silent for a long time. Finally he spoke, "Where will you go?"

"I've wanted to go out West for some time. I think I will head for California. How about you?"

"Lily wants to go towards the East Coast. I am thinking Maryland or Virginia."

"I wish you the best, Metalloy. And I really mean that."

"Will you stay in touch?"

"We will figure out a way. Now go. Go to your wife. I will come back to the apartment tomorrow evening. I expect you to be gone by then."

"We will be."

* * *

Matthew walked the long walk home in pain. Even though there was hardly a mark on him, every muscle in his side and gut was stiff and sore. His jaw was in pain, and his head ached. He finally made it to the apartment and stumbled in.

Lily ran to him immediately. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"We vented our feelings in a properly brotherly way," answered Matthew as he sat down in their crummy recliner.

"Where is Thomas?"

"I don't know, but he won't be back tonight. He will return after we leave. We won't be seeing him again for some time."

A look of surprise and then sympathy came to Lily's face. "I'm sorry." Lily came and sat on Matthew's lap. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I was just angry."

"So was I, and so was he. But this was his idea. Thomas, wants us to be happy." Matthew put his arm around Lily, and she leaned on his chest. This caused pain, but the soothing feeling of holding her made it worth it. "Tomorrow we will leave and head east. And Thomas is heading west."

Lily only answered by snuggling closer to Matthew, and the two of them feel asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Thomas arrived at the apartment at five o'clock the next evening. All of Matthew's and Lily's possessions were gone, and there was no sign of either of them in the common areas or their room. Thomas sighed as he took in the reality. _They're gone._

He then entered his room and began packing, when he saw something on his bed. There on his pillow was a dagger with an intricate 'M' on the hilt. Thomas smiled as he picked up the artifact from his brother. _Good luck to you, Metalloy._

* * *

Deputy Marshall Richard Sten was at his desk. Before him was two evidence bags. In one was a pair of daggers, one with an intricate 'M' on the hilt, and the other had an 'A.' They were found a week ago in an apartment in Denver, Colorado. The other bag was smaller and contained a Polaroid wedding photo of Matthew Macarthur and an unknown woman found at a cheap Elvis wedding chapel in Vegas. The photo was already over a year old.

A man entered Sten's home office. "You called. Did you have good news for the boss?"

"No," said Sten. "I have bad news."

The man sat across the desk from Sten. "The boss does not like bad news."

"Nobody likes bad news, but it happens. We all have to deal with it, even bosses."

"What is this bad news? Did you lose the trail?"

"No, worse. I am following two trails."

"What?"

"We got to Denver as quickly as we could. We found their abandoned apartment, and began checking the local bus and train stations. There was a sighting of one of them in an Albuquerque bus stop, and another sighting in a Kansas City train station on the same day. The brothers have split up."

"What does this mean?"

"It means that I have to choose one to follow. I don't have the man power to pursue both. I am having a hard time convincing the Marshalls to continue to pursue these men."

"Do what you have to do. But keep us informed. The boss is beginning to think that having them merely apprehended by the Marshalls is not good enough." The man picked up the evidence bag with the metal daggers. "He has another plan for them, a far more useful one."


	4. Good Times And Bad

Good Times and Bad (five years prior to _X:Men_ )

Lily noticed the sadness that plagued Matthew for months after Thomas had left. She felt awful that she had caused the previously inseparable brothers to go their own ways. It was apparently noticed by Matthew that she was bearing this guilt because he often told her that it wasn't her fault. Then she realized that if she truly wanted to help Matthew move on from the separation of his brother she ought to be as happy of a wife as possible.

And she was truly happy.

They moved to an area outside of Baltimore. There they had found a struggling greenhouse and tree nursery that would hire them. The pay wasn't real good, but it was enough for the two of them. They lived in a basic studio apartment which was fine now that they didn't need an extra bedroom.

The summer flew by. The owner, an older woman with some medical issues, began to trust Matthew and Lily with more responsibility at the nursery. When winter came the she released all her employees but Matthew and Lily. They got a slight pay hike and had employment all winter long.

Then in the following spring Lily had a dream come true. The owner told her that she could no longer work due to her medical issues, but that she felt that she could trust Lily to run the nursery and greenhouse. Soon Lily found herself managing the whole place, with Matthew organizing the workers. She didn't think she could have been happier.

That was until one day she didn't feel so great. That morning she gave Matthew a list of tasks to get done at the nursery while she would stay at home. Matthew didn't want to leave her, but she insisted that she was fine. So he took off for work.

Lily felt fine enough to work around the one room apartment until she felt sick to the stomach. She spent much of the morning sick in the bathroom. She rummaged through their medicine cabinet looking for anything that would help her. _Why don't we keep cold and flu medicine in here?_ Then she laughed. _Most medicines are plant based. I could probably make my own remedy._ As she consider the new possibility, she tried to think of what could have been the cause of this illness. _I could make some sort of organic antibacterial. Or maybe it's not a disease. Maybe it was something I ate. What did I have last night? No that couldn't be it._

Then a new thought exploded in her mind. _When was the last time I…_ Suddenly her mind worked quickly. _If it's not a disease and it's not food poisoning, perhaps…could it be so?_

Lily spent the rest of the morning anxiously waiting to feel just a little better. In the afternoon she walked to a nearby pharmacy, made a purchase, and returned home. She followed the instructions on the package and awaited the results.

* * *

Matthew was worried about Lily all day. He knew that he was over reacting, but it was just uncomfortable knowing that his wife was home sick, and he was not there to be with her. _Matthew, you had a bad father, but that doesn't mean you don't need to hover over your wife's every need. Just relax, work, and go home at the end of the day._

Finally 6:00 came and Matthew closed the store. He asked a coworker for a ride, rather than waste time waiting for a bus, and he got home at around 6:25.

As Matthew entered the apartment, he was surprised to see Lily up and about. _See, there was nothing to worry about._ But Lily wasn't simply fine, she was excited.

"Matthew, I have been waiting for you."

"You know I had to close today," answered Matthew. "How are you feeling?"

"Great."

"The nausea is less."

"A bit."

"Do you think you have the flu?"

"No, I don't have the flu."

"What do you think is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong?"

"I'm confused."

"Matthew," said Lily deliberately as she held up some strange medical looking thing. "It's positive."

"What's positive?"

"This test." Lily paused, but Matthew didn't get it.

"Matthew, I'm pregnant."

Matthew stood there wide eyed and stunned silent. Lily excitedly added. "Isn't this great! We need to celebrate."

"Yeah," answered Matthew, but his heart was pounding, and his mind was working a mile a minute. Questions came flying into his mind. _How are we going to support a child? We barely have ID's much less health insurance. How can I make sure that Lily stays healthy? The apartment is too small for a child. Where are we going to live? What if we have to run again? Can we run with a baby?_

Lily must have picked up on his hesitation. "Aren't you happy?"

Matthew gathered himself. "Of course I'm happy. We need to celebrate." He then embraced Lily is a hug. He felt her excitement as she held him tight.

But there was one question in Matthew's mind. _Am I capable of being a good father?_

* * *

Now that she knew about her pregnancy, Lily was positive that she could sense the new life growing in her womb. She was of course still very early in the pregnancy, but she nonetheless was convinced that she was already connected with the little boy or girl. _Boy I think. I can't wait to find out._

Matthew too seemed excited. He had celebrated with Lily the evening they had found out. After that he was supportive of her when she wasn't feeling well. He bought a crib that was falling apart and then fixed it with his metal. He would give her a hug and a kiss whenever he could.

But then there were other moments; moments in which Matthew didn't know that Lily was nearby. One time she heard him talking to himself while he was pacing up and down the far end of the tree nursery. He was talking about money, expenses, and other obstacles. Lily felt her heart drop. _Does he not want this child?_

But the next day he was just excited again. Lily pretended that she didn't notice those other moments, but more and more she got the feeling that Matthew was wishing that she had never gotten pregnant.

The next month and a half continued, and the joy that Lily had expected in her pregnancy was overshadowed by some unspoken gloom. _Why can't he just be happy about this?_

Then one day something felt very wrong.

* * *

Matthew was worried. There was no other way to say it. No matter how he worked the numbers, he couldn't come up with a way to feel secure about having enough money to raise a kid. But it wasn't just the money. Their fake ID's would hold up to some scrutiny, but not enough for them to get health care. And how would he ever get the kid into a school? And what if they were discovered. They would have to move to a new city. And if the authorities found out that he had a kid, it would make them easier to track. _What kind of life is that for a kid?_

Then Matthew heard Lily's voice from her office. They were at the greenhouse. He listened carefully and heard his name. He went to her office and walked in. "Lily, did you need me?"

"Matthew, something is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"It hurts."

All other thoughts left his mind, and protective instincts kicked in. His wife was in pain, and he needed to do something about it. "It hurts? What can I do?"

"I don't know, but I'm scared. What if something is wrong with the baby?" Then Lily turned pale. "Matthew! I'm bleeding."

Health insurance or not, Matthew knew what he needed to do. "We are getting you to a hospital right now."

He immediately picked Lily up and brought her downstairs to the sale room. One of the other employees noticed. "Is something wrong?"

"I need to get her to the hospital."

"I have a car."

"Good, let's go."

The employee drove them to the hospital, and Matthew brought Lily to the emergency room. The doctors immediately began to work, but they pushed Matthew out. He saw in waiting room of the emergency room for what seemed like hours. All the while Matthew was worried sick. His wife was not well, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Finally the doctors came out to speak to him. Matthew approached them. "Is she okay? Is my wife okay?"

The doctor raised his hand to calm Matthew. "You wife is fine, and we have the situation under control." Then the doctor bowed his head a bit, and Matthew knew what was coming.

* * *

Lily sat in her hospital bed, wearing only the hospital gown. She felt a sadness come over her. No one had told her anything, but she knew.

Matthew entered the room. He seemed somber, but he smiled genuinely as he pulled up a chair and kissed her on the forehead. "The doctor says that you will be just fine."

"That's not all the doctor said, was it?"

"No that wasn't." Matthew bowed his head and then spoke. "We lose the child."

Lily already knew it, but hearing it out loud broke her heart. She began to cry. Matthew slide closer and put his arm around her. "Doctor said that the child was gone before we even got here. There was nothing we could have done."

Lily leaned into Matthew's arms, and closed her eyes.

"Maybe it is for the better."

Lily didn't move from her position, but she felt like her heart stopped. _What did he just say?!_

"I don't think we can support a child in our current state. Maybe when we are more secure, we can try again."

And Lily cried all over again.

* * *

The Harvest of Alloy (four years prior to _X:Men_ )

Living alone was both a terrible adjustment and an exciting new adventure for Alloy. The first month was filled with much excitement and much loneliness. But soon he found himself in Los Angeles. The California sun lifted his spirits.

He bounced around odd jobs before landing a fulltime job with a construction crew. What he lacked in skill and knowledge he made up for by working hard. Over a number of months his foreman began to rely on him, and he got an increase in pay. His apartment was crummy, but it was enough for him.

"Hey M, it's A. Just wanted to let you know that things are going well. No troubles with old friends. I think I am setting in. Hope things are good for you too." Alloy hung up the pay phone. _I really do hope things are well for Matthew and Lily._ He and Metalloy had set up a voicemail box for one way communications. It was a bare minimal way of keeping in touch, but shouldn't draw the attention of the police, the 'old friends' he referred to.

He looked at his watch. _Uh oh, I am going to be late._ He had a date with his girlfriend. Alloy had been trying dating ever since he had moved to California. He found it to be a somewhat enjoyable experience. He had dated a number of girls throughout the fall and the winter, but he had actually been dating the same girl since early January.

His girlfriend was a college student. She had her last exam of the spring semester today, and she wanted to celebrate. He had just finished work and was going back to his apartment to shower and change. Then he was going to meet her for a night of partying. _And she parties hard._ While he was somewhat looking forward to it, the reality was that Thomas was tired after the long day's work. _Why didn't Metalloy tell me this dating thing was so demanding?_ Thomas noted that his brother never minded spending time with Lily. _I guess he got lucky and found the perfect girl for him the first time. I will probably have to search a while._

Just then Thomas noticed something strange. It was a man standing across the street from his apartment. He was reading a newspaper, but just a second ago Thomas thought he had spotted the man out of the corner of his eye spying on him. _A cop?_ Then Thomas saw a fully uniformed pair of cops talking to a shop owner in front of him. He passed by them, but they took absolutely no note of him. _Either they are really good, or they have nothing to do with the man across the street._ Alloy decided to go up into his apartment and see what that guy would do.

And that was Alloy's mistake. He got into his apartment and got ready to jump into the shower. He had only managed to get his shirt off when they came into the room. A team of men in tactical armor broke down the door. They fired electric stun weapons at him, but Alloy dodged them. He threw knives at the assailants, but didn't look to see if they hit. A taser hit him in the chest, but bounced off his metal. Even so he felt the electric current hit him for the brief moment when the prongs had touched his metal armor.

It wasn't until he punched a man in the face that he realized they were wearing gas masks. _Oh crap!_ A cylinder landed at his feet and started spewing green gas. His warning sense told him that the gas would knock him unconsciousness. He made a push for the door, but ran into a big man blocking his path. He slashed at the man's chest with a knife, only to feel some resistance under the man's vest. _Kevlar vest!_ Before Alloy could make the appropriate adjustment, the man swung his baton at his head. Alloy easily dodged the attack, but was prevented from counterattacking when the man kicked him over.

All the while Alloy was breathing in the gas from the grenade. He knew from his warning sense that he only had a few more seconds before he passed out. The big man who was preventing him from leaving tried to pin him down. Alloy reshaped his knife to be thinner and sharper, and then plunged it through the man's armored vest. By the sound the man made Alloy knew he was successful.

 _Got to get to the window._ He stood up, but he was already off balanced. He stumbled towards the window, but he couldn't see straight. A green mist from the grenade and a black cloud from his lack of oxygen gathered in his sight. More tasers deflected off his metal, but he trudged forward.

Just as he neared the window all went black.

* * *

Thomas had no concept of time in what he later calculated to be about three weeks of captivity. He was in varying levels of sedation the whole time, but never brought to full consciousness.

But his secondary mutant ability kept him alerted to all the dangers to himself, and there was no shortage of dangers. He saw needles, large and small; drugs were pumped into him; and fluids were extracted at alarming rates. He saw all of this through his warning sense, but he was unable to do a thing about it. The whole experience was like a horrible nightmare, filled with pain, but he was unable to escape by waking up. His mind lost rationality in this drugged unconscious state, and he slipped into insanity.

He could later recalled some of the conversations that were held next to him. He recalled a man saying, "Why don't we just kill him? He killed Frankie and Sam when we took him." Another voice answered, "The boss wants him alive for now. We are to get as much out of him as possible."

At one moment when Thomas were nearer to wakefulness then other times, the people seemed to be extracting something from him. The experience was extremely painful. He wanted to scream, but his lungs just wouldn't do it.

Thomas lost his, but he could hear those around him. "He's going in to shock, stop the operation."

"We are not supposed to do that."

"He's going to die if we continue. Stop now."

"Stopping."

"His heart has stopped. He's crashing. Bring me the paddles."

Thomas' forewarning system alerted him to the electric shock, but he felt nothing. This happened two more times. "Give him the adrenaline." Thomas saw the needle, but still felt nothing.

He saw the next shock coming, and suddenly, out of pure instinct he reached out and grabbed the paddles and threw them aside. Someone came from his left to hold him down forcefully, but Thomas threw himself at the perceived attacker. IV's and medical equipment ripped off his body. Thomas landed on the floor.

Thomas' consciousness had returned, but his mind hadn't. He had little recollection of what he did. All he remembered was pain and anger. He savagely attacked anyone he perceived as a threat with his bare hands. He ran nearly naked, having no idea where he was or where he was going.

His mind and thus his memory started to come back when he encountered a guard of sorts. He was running at high speed despite his drugged stumbling. He caught the guard by surprise. The guard drew a pistol, but Thomas swatted the gun arm aside. He then willed his hand to be coated with metal and beat the man in the face over and over and over again. All his rage and anger was released on the poor man.

It was only when he took a pause for breath that Thomas noted the pain in his hand. His knuckles were skinned and bleeding from beating against the man's skull. _Why is there no metal?_ It was then that Thomas realized what had happen to him.

Once years ago Thomas had tried to test the limits of his ability. He produced as much metal as he could. At a certain point he felt sick such as one who was malnourished. At that time he merely reabsorbed the metal. But now he felt the same sickness. _They were taking my metal!_ Thomas knew his body would regenerate whatever it was in him that made the metal, but he have never been emptied before. There was no telling how long it would take to regain his mutant ability again.

 _I guess I will have to do without it. At least I still have my other ability._ Then for the first time since before his capture and torture Thomas stopped to think and plan. He was still drugged, and thus he did not have the mental capacity for any elaborate plan. But he was able to keep it simple.

 _I am not safe. I need to run. Then I need to hide._ So he ran. _Where am I?_ He looked around and saw massive shipping crates. _Can I hide in those?_ _Why are they here? Where am I?_

He stopped to catch his breath next to one of the crates. As he did, he saw a crane pick up one of the crates. He followed it will his eyes like a kid who had never seen such a thing. Then the crane set the crate on a massive cargo ship. _I am hiding there._ He stumbled towards it, but stopped when he heard voices.

"He must be here somewhere."

"He's going to pay for the people he killed."

 _Who did I kill?_ Thomas couldn't make sense of his memories. _Oh yeah, that guard._

"Do you think he would try one of the ships?"

"How would he get on one? The man is nearly dead."

 _How indeed?_ But at that moment he saw the crane come back for another crate. There was a man on top of the crate guiding the crane's hook. The crate had a small vent like structure that looked damaged. Not really thinking it through Thomas ran for it.

He reached the crate and jumped with all his might. How he reached the grate, he was never sure, but perhaps desperation or the adrenaline that was given to him when he was dying allowed him to grab hold of it. One bar broke, but he was able to climb up. Then he squeezed his way into the shipping crate.

Thomas vaguely remembered the crate being lifted into the air, but he never remembered it being set down. For the first time in a long time Thomas fell into an undisturbed sleep.


	5. Alloy the Missionary?

Alloy the Missionary? (Four years prior to _X-Men_ )

Thomas woke up inside the shipping crate, laying on top of grain sacks. _At least it made for a comfortable bed._ But as soon as he moved he felt his whole body in pain. And not only pain. He felt weak, weaker than he had ever been. And he was hungry, hungrier even than his first homeless nights in Chicago nearly ten years ago. He knew that his most important need was food and hydration.

Thomas crawled around the shipping crate until he found the door at the end. _Please don't let this be pushed up against another crate_. He figured out the mechanism, but discovered the door won't unlatch. _Probably a pad lock on the other side._ Thomas focused his mutant ability. Never was it so hard to make a simple saw blade. His body had not reproduced all its metal yet. _That may happen sooner if I get something to eat._ Finally he was able to slip a saw blade between the two doors and cut through the bolt.

He slowly opened the door. The day light blinded him at first. But soon he was working his way around the ship. He glanced out over the sea and was unable to find any sight of shore. _I guess this is a trans-Pacific trip._ He stayed near the crates at first, but eventually he slipped below deck.

He found some crew members eating in a dining hall of sorts. As luck would have it they were just leaving. Thomas was able to slip in and ate what left over food they had thrown away.

After the first day, Thomas no longer slipped around during the day. Instead he would sneak out at night, steal some food and water, and then return to his crate for sleep. During this time his health improved and his metal making ability returned. As it turned out he was a pretty good stowaway.

About two weeks into his trip he was discovered. The crew man that spotted him reported immediately, and Thomas was suddenly surrounded by ten men, two of whom had guns. While Thomas felt his health restored, he wasn't sure that he was at sufficient fighting strength. There was little opportunity to build up his strength while on a ship. _I don't feel like fighting anyhow._

After being yelled at by the ship's captain, and threaten with all sorts of punishments, the crew finally concluded that they had no means of punishment other than to make him work, and to drop him off at their first stop. To this Thomas agreed, but if he would have known where they were, he might have thought twice.

The ship finally docked. Since he was no good at unloading cargo, they kicked him off the ship. Thomas began to wander around. _Where am I?_ Then Thomas began to notice the great number of black men and women. He could tell that these were not African-Americans. _Oh no! I'm in Africa!_

If Thomas thought that he, a boy from Chicago, was out of place in the South, he had never consider what it would be like to be a white American in Africa. _Calm down. There has to be a way out of this. Americans are everywhere. I have to be able to find someone from back home somewhere._

He wander around a market place for a while, but found nothing but awkward stares. Finally he found some people that looked like they might be American, but it was clearly not what he was expecting, a group of nuns in full habit.

The nuns were begging for money, and one of the older nuns spotted him. She pushed a younger nun towards him, who immediately approached him. _This isn't going to be good._

"Sir, if you could spare anything, the children at the school would appreciate it."

 _It that an English accent?_ "Sorry, lady…I meant, Sister. I can't give right now."

"Any little bit helps."

"Trust me, I know that. But I haven't a dime to my name right now." Thomas turned out his pockets. "I have nothing but the cloths on my back."

The nun looked embarrassed. She returned to her superior, and they had a conversation in another language. Thomas was about to leave, when the nun returned. "Here, take this." She was handing him money.

Thomas was dumb struck. "What? Why? You said the children need it."

"We insist."

"Look, I've been broke before. I can take care of myself. I can't take food away from children."

"We have plenty of food. We grow it ourselves."

"Then what do you need the money for?"

"Our school and orphanage are in poor shape. The repair is beyond our strength and skill. We need to hire workers to do it."

Thomas paused for a bit. "You said you have food."

"Yes," answered the young nun cautiously.

Thomas gave another thought. "I worked construction back in America, and I am willing to work for food."

The nun paused. "You would not require pay?"

"No, I just need food. I haven't eaten well in weeks. I don't know where I am going next. I need a place to stay, food to eat, and time to figure out my next move."

"Wait right here," and the nun turned and ran to her elder. After a quick explanation the older nun approached him clasped his hand, and spoke many kind sounding words to him. "She thanks you greatly. You will begin tomorrow, she says."

"That's the quickest job interview that I've ever had."

"She thinks you were sent from God."

"I think not."

A smile came to the young nun's face. "You don't know how desperate we are. Our buildings need work now, before the rainy season, or they may fail. We needed money and workers. We prayed for help from God, and then you showed up. How would you interpret that?"

"Coincidence, dumb luck."

"There is no such thing," said the nun. "God gave us a skilled worker. The only question is what will he give you."

"Okay, Sister. Whatever you say."

Thomas followed the group of sisters to their vehicle. It was an old pickup truck. The old nun, the driver, and two other nuns piled into the cab which was only meant for three. The other five nuns climbed in the back, including the one who had talked to Thomas. Thomas too climbed in.

The old nun shouted something, and they were driving away. "What language is she speaking?" Thomas asked.

"German."

"Why?"

"Because she is from Germany. We are a German order, so many of our sisters are from Germany, although we do except local women too."

Thomas looked at all the faces in the back of the truck. Indeed some were African. "And you're from where, Sister…?"

"Great Britain, and it is Sister Lucy."

"How did you end up with a Germany order?"

"Catholicism was out lawed for hundreds of years in my home country. While the Church is recovering there, it was been a slow process for religious orders. I had to look away from home to find this kind of life. How about you? Where are you from? And what is your name?"

"My name is Thomas Macarthur. I am from Chicago originally, but I've lived all over the U.S."

"What brings you to Kenya?"

"I'm in Kenya?"

"You did not know that?"

"No, I boarded a ship not knowing where it was going?"

"Why?"

"I would rather not talk about it?" Sister Lucy had a concerned look on her face. Thomas caught the look. "Still think that God sent me?"

"Yes," she answered slowly. Thomas could tell that she was a bit more uncomfortable than before.

 _This is the risk you take in hiring a stranger. Fortunately for her, I am not a real threat. But I suppose she doesn't know that._

After an awkward couple hours they stopped in the middle of nowhere. Waiting for them there was another old car. Out of the vehicle stepped a man who looked to be in his 50's. _Is that a priest?_ The man was wearing a long black garb that went down to his ankles and a collar around his neck that might have been white at one time. The man approached. "Who do we have here?"

"This is Thomas Macarthur," said Sister Lucy. "He is going to work for us."

"Mr. Macarthur, that's an Irish name isn't it." Thomas nodded as he noted the heavy Irish accent. "My name is Fr. Peter O'Malley."

Thomas shook his hand. "I once knew an O'Malley. He was a good friend."

"It's a popular name, but perhaps we're related. We have a long ways to drive yet, but we will have you working in no time."

"I never thought I would be working in Kenya."

"Oh, but you won't be. Technically our school and orphanage is in Wakanda."

"Wakanda? My high school geography was never very good. I've never heard of it."

"I can tell you all about it on the ride to our mission. You will ride with me. I bet you would appreciate male company after sitting with a bunch of nuns for hours. I think we will have lots to talk about."

Fr. Peter certainly did talk a lot, but Thomas enjoy the little Irish priest. He seemed full of joy and vigor. _I guess he better be if he is a missionary._ Thomas learned all about the priest's missionary work in East Africa. He had been black listed in a few different countries before coming to Wakanda. He seemed quite optimistic about the opportunities in Wakanda.

"It is a small country, but don't let it fool you. It has its strengths, including its unique natural resources. It has more wealth than many of its neighbors. We are located right on its border, and most of our children come from neighboring countries.

"The King is friendly enough. He is not Catholic or even Christian. He follows some old religion that is passed down his royal family line. They say it gives him power. There are some other strange cults in the region. But the King sees the benefit of our work, so he gives us a pass. We try to keep a low profile, while stilling doing God's work."

"God's work. Ha! The old German nun thinks that God sent me here."

"Of course he did, lad. Tell me, have you ever been out of the United States before this?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. But here you are going to tell me that the very first time you venture beyond your home country you just happen to come to us in our moment of need! You give God far too little credit, Tom."

Thomas didn't really have an answer for that.

They finally arrived at their destination. Thomas got out of the car and gapped at the landscape. Behind him was a semiarid plane. In front of him was nothing short of a jungle. "Wow!"

"Welcome to Wakanda," said Fr. Peter. "This is the edge of the country."

"It the whole country a jungle?"

"Yes," said Fr. Peter. "Some say the country is blessed by the gods."

"You don't believe that, though."

"On the contrary, I do, Tom. The only difference is that I know there is only one God."

Then Thomas looked at the mission site. It was three humble looking buildings. The one in best shape was a simple wooden building with a steeple and a cross on the top. Then was a similar looking building with a bell, which was probably the school, and then the orphanage, which was larger. Both the school and the orphanage were in tough shape.

Fr. Peter walked towards the mission, and Thomas followed. "You will be staying with me and Mr. Wagner."

"Wagner? Another priest?"

"No, just a lay man. He is a faithful Catholic. A desire for mission as well as an… uncomfortable experience back home brought him to us."

"I look forward to meeting him."

"He might be home," said Fr. Peter as they entered the priest's quarters in the back of the church. "Mr. Wagner, we have a new roommate." Thomas looked around the dark room to see who Fr. Peter was talking to, but he saw no one, until Fr. Peter lit a lamp.

"Whoa!" said Thomas. Kneeling in a corner next to a statue of a woman holding a child was a man with blue skin, pointed ears, yellow glowing eyes, and most noticeably a long tail. He was holding some sort of prayer beads in his three finger hands.

When Thomas had spoken the man turned towards him and spoke in a heavy German accent. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Thomas smile. "Don't worry. It will take more than some blue skin and a tail to frighten me." Thomas approached the mutant and extended his hand. "My name is Thomas Macarthur."

"I am Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich circus they called me the incredible Nightcrawler." He accepted Thomas' extended hand. His grip was strange, but strong. "You are not bothered that I am a mutant."

"Naw. I admit, your appearance caught me off guard. But at the end of the day I could never be anti-mutant." Thomas winked at Nightcrawler, who opened his eyes wide as though he wasn't sure if he saw correctly. Thomas didn't add any more information.

Fr. Peter looked between the two of them. When he seemed content that his roommates would get along, he spoke. "The day has been long lads. Let us take our rest. Tomorrow we must work."

Thomas was given some blankets. He stretched out on the floor. As Fr. Peter was able to extinguish the lamp, Thomas gave a short laugh. "What's got you laughing, Tom."

"I just never thought that I would be sleeping under the same roof as a German missionary and an Irish priest."

"You might not believe that God sent you here Mr. Macarthur, but I will tell you that God has a sense of humor."

 _If he is behind all this, then yeah, I would say he does._

* * *

Thomas woke up the next day to find a hearty breakfast. He wasn't sure of all that he was eating, but it was more filling than anything he had eaten since his kidnapping. After breakfast he realized that he would have to earn future meals. The head nun began to order him around immediately in German. Sister Lucy or Mr. Wagner were always there to interpret for him. He began to work hard throughout the day. He replaced rotten wood with fresh lumber; he fixed doors; he did whatever he was told.

Kurt Wagner also worked. Thomas' little experience in construction outweighed Nightcrawler's, but Mr. Wagner was quite handy, literally. He could even lift things with his tail. The nuns worked as well; not on the construction, but on the day to day chores. Thomas was amazed at what they could do. _If they had another six ladies like these, they wouldn't need me or Nightcrawler._

During breaks Thomas would sit in the shade and rehydrate. He wouldn't go near the kids. It's not like he didn't like kids, he just had never been around them before and didn't know what to do.

Nightcrawler on the other hand played with the kids during their recess. They seemed to love Nightcrawler's unique appearance, and even more love his acrobatics. After one such recess, Nightcrawler joined Thomas in the shade. "I love being with the children. They don't judge."

"They seem to like you, especially when you do your tricks."

"I learned to do that in the Munich circus. I have always loved entertaining."

"Why did you leave? For the mission?"

"That and…" Kurt paused. "The circus was bought up by a new owner. He wanted to shift me from the acrobatics to the freak show. I did it for a while, but then I couldn't take it anymore."

"I'm sorry." Thomas paused for a bit. "You know what these kids are missing?"

"What?"

"Some sort of jungle gym or monkey bars."

Kurt smiled at the idea.

So the two of them continued to work. But if they ever had a lull in their work they would start their own little project. They gathered the wood needed. "We don't have the nails to spare," said Kurt.

"I know a trick or two myself," said Thomas as he held out his open hand. Then he shut it and reopened it, and there was a nail in his hand. Thomas then put a finger to his lips and winked to Nightcrawler. "Not all of us are as obvious as you." Kurt gave an understanding nod.

When the two of them revealed their little project to the children they rushed up to give them a big hug. Kurt loved it, but Thomas squirmed. But as uncomfortable as it was, there was a certain warmth about it. The kids then took their turns crossing the simple low set of monkey bars, with Nightcrawler helping them.

A few days later Thomas was up on the roof of the school. A group of nuns who went out begging had come back with a bunch of used shingles. Thomas had picked out those that were in better shape and was nailing them to the roof. He reached into the bucket of nails. _There isn't going to be enough._ He looked around, but neither Fr. Peter nor any of the sisters were around. Even Kurt was working on another project. Thomas began forming his own nails and mixed them in with the bucket. _Hopefully they won't notice, or maybe they will think it's a miracle._

Just then Thomas heard some commotion inside the school. There was some shouting and screaming in other languages. A boy suddenly came out of the school and ran down the road. Thomas didn't see anyone else come out, and the kid kept running. _Ah? Do something, Alloy._

He slide off the roof. His warning sense alerted him to the impact of the ground, but he rolled to minimize the damage. He ran down the road and into the forest looking for the kid, but couldn't find him. Finally he stopped to catch his breath. As he did so he heard a sound. _Is that crying?_

He walked around a large boulder and found the kid sobbing with his hand to his eyes. _Where's his other hand? Oh!_ Thomas hadn't noticed the other hand before because it blended perfectly in with the rock. In fact the boy's whole right arm was rock. Thomas looked seriously at the boy. He looked about twelve years old. _The age I was when I first discovered my mutant ability._

Thomas approached the boy. He saw Thomas and was suddenly scared. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

"What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. You are just unique. Like Mr. Wagner."

"I can't stop it."

"It's okay. It can be hard to control. But you are a strong boy, I can tell."

"I hurt a girl, and she screamed."

Thomas didn't know how to respond. But then inspired by something he held out his right arm. "Take my hand."

"I might hurt you."

"No, you won't." Then Thomas coated his arm in metal. The boy stopped crying and stared in wonder. "You are not alone." The boy took Thomas' hand, and began to calm down. As he did his rock skin reverted to normal. _Lucky kid. Not all mutants can do that._ "My name is Thomas. What is your name?"

"John."

"John, let's get you home."

* * *

Sister Lucy was extremely nervous. The girl wasn't hurt, but the young boy John, had runaway before anyone could see where he went.

"Should I go look for him?" asked Kurt Wagner. "I can search many places quickly."

Sister Lucy was about to say yes when Fr. Peter spoke up. "No need. The lad is right there."

Sister Lucy followed the priest's finger and saw the boy walking hand in hand with Thomas Macarthur. They walked right up to the sister who was John's teacher. "I'm sorry, sister. I was scared, but now I'm better."

"It's okay John. Angus is alright. You scared us by running away." The teacher led him back into the classroom.

Sister Lucy asked Thomas Macarthur. "How did you find him?"

"I saw him running while I was on the roof. Sister Lucy, he's fine, but he is a mutant. He seems to have difficulty controlling his ability when he's scared or nervous. Helping him to learn how to be calm will help him control it."

Sister Lucy gave him a quisitive look. _I wonder how he knows so much about mutants._ "Thank you for finding him and calming him down." Then she smiled. "Do you still think that God didn't sent you to us?"


	6. Lover's Quarrel

Lover's quarrel (three years prior to _X-Men_ )

Lily had returned to work only a couple days after her time at the hospital. When she did Matthew noted that she poured more energy than before into the greenhouse and nursery. Matthew was also glad to return to work. The labor kept his mind off other things. Even the idea that he might have lost Lily disturbed him greatly. _I am sad about the miscarriage, but I am just happy that I still have my wife. What would I do if I ever lost her?_

The owner of the greenhouse had now given Lily full control of the business and allowed them to take a share of the profits as their pay. Lily began to put all her time and energy into the greenhouse. At first Matthew thought it was a good distraction for her, but after a while Matthew realized that she did almost nothing else. He tried to institute a date night for them once a week, but Lily kept canceling it. He even reserved a table at a fairly nice restaurant, but Lily criticized him for spending the money.

Lily had become less amiable in those days also. She began to bark at workers that didn't perform up to her standards. Her standards were not all that high, but most of their workers were high school or college students that lacked experience and at times motivation. Matthew did what he could to train them and keep them out of trouble. He even convinced a boy or two that they this was not the job for them.

Matthew had decided that Lily needed a break. He didn't know what she was going through, but he could tell that she could not keep this up. He hoped that when Fall came and the busy season would come to an end, that the two of them could take some time and reconnect.

* * *

Lily had whipped the greenhouse into shape. Crummy workers were weeded out, and other workers improved the quality of their work. Lily noted that Matthew had done quite a bit of training in that area. But good customer service was only part of the equation. She also needed a good product. To this end Lily began to extend her use of her mutant ability. She had always been using it to aid the plants in their growth. Now she was pushing it a bit more. She knew that this risked exposing her mutant gifts, but so far the risk was paying off. Their greenhouse was gaining a reputation of having the best product in the region. And the profits reflected this.

Lily was looking at the books and was somewhat pleased with the results, but at the same time there was a dread. _Is it enough?_

The truth was that Lily needed the money. If she couldn't come up with enough money then she felt that Matthew would never want a child. She had to lift them into a position where they could afford healthcare, schooling, and whatever other expenses came with living a life under fake identities.

Despite the greenhouse's success Lily knew that the winter season was coming. While there were definitely things that a greenhouse in Maryland could grow in the winter, it was still a less promising season.

As Lily poured over different ideas, she began to think of ways in which she could make money independently from the greenhouse. She had once asked Matthew if he was willing to hand craft items out of his metal, but he refused to sell what he considered part of himself. Lily could understand this, but now she was thinking differently. She had used her ability to bioengineer different food spices and herbal/medicinal products for herself and Matthew. Could she sell such products?

Lily shook her head. _If I sell unusual products, then I will attract attention. There are also legal consequences. My products would be subject to government regulation, and that would expose me and my mutant gifts. I fear that the world will not take kindly to that._

Lily continued to mull over the problem. _If I could find some sort of underground market for these things._ Lily laughed at the thought. _There are no underground markets for herbal medicines and spices. There are only underground markets for weapons, slaves, and drugs._ This thought stopped Lily. _Drugs?_ Lily thought about the possibility. _I don't know how that chemistry works, but I could learn it easily enough. It wouldn't be all that different from herbal medicines. I could do it._

 _What am I thinking? I can't make drugs! That would be an abuse of my powers. I would be hurting people._

Lily tried to shake the thought from her mind and looked out the window. But as she did all she could thing about was the child she lost. What kind of future would he or she had? She imagined playing games with her little girl, or running around with her son. Lily bowed her head. _If I am ever going to have that chance, then I need to do what is necessary. Life has taken enough from me. It's time that I take something back._

* * *

Matthew's hopes that the winter would bring a respite in Lily's work focus never came true. Once winter hit Lily became even more introverted. She would lock herself in her little experimental greenhouse room for hours. She claimed that she was developing a better product for the spring. Matthew warned her about over using her mutant gifts, but she got mad at him.

A few weeks into the winter Lily insisted that there wasn't enough work in the greenhouse for Matthew, and that he would be better off working elsewhere for the winter. So he began working as a security guard at a local shopping mall.

It was one day in December when he had a suddenly realization. A young girl had stolen a bunch of clothing from one of the stores. Matthew had cut her off from her getaway car in the parking lot. Another security guard had caught her, but her boyfriend/getaway driver took a swing at Matthew. It was pitfully easy from him to dodge the punch and pin the boy, but it made his mind jump back.

 _The last person to take a swing at me was Thomas. That was the day we went our separate ways._ In one sudden moment all of Matthew's thoughts lined up. _We were drifting apart way before that day. He took a different job, he avoided me, he wouldn't speak to me._ Matthew's heart started beating. _It's the same thing that's happening now between me and Lily!_

When Matthew got home that night, Lily was already in bed. Not wanting to disturb her, Matthew grabbed a blanket and laid down on the couch. But before he fell asleep he vowed that he would talk to Lily in the morning. _I am not going to lose her like I lost Alloy._

The next morning Matthew was surprise to find out that Lily had left the apartment before he had awoken. _She couldn't have done that unless she was really trying. I guess she is avoiding me._

Matthew called in sick. His shift manager poked fun at him. "You are not still shaken by that shoplifter taking a swing at you?"

"Please, my grandma could take that kid. I just don't feel all that good this morning."

"Alright, get well soon, I guess."

"Thanks." Matthew hung up the phone and left the apartment. His destination was the greenhouse.

* * *

A man sat across the desk from Lily. "Ms. Rose, your product simply speaking is the best on the street. I have people practically pounding on my door, demanding more."

"I am glad your customers are pleased." The man across from Lily was a short, slightly overweight man with pudgy checks. Inside his crappy suit coat Lily could see the man's pistol. _Could he get any more stereotypical mobster?_

"But they are not, Ms. Rose," said the man. "They are not pleased with the supply, nor are they pleased with the price."

"Then they can find another supplier."

"There is no other supplier," said the drug dealer. "You seemed to have a nice little monopoly here."

"Oh, well, that's unfortunate. I guess you and your customers will have to settle for my prices. This stuff is not easy to make." Actually the drug was quite easy for Lily to make, but her conscience still plagued her at times. She had decided to make as little of the drug as necessary. The drug she made had a very relaxing high. It calmed nerves and had a touch of hallucination. It wasn't overly dangerous to its users unless they tried to operate a car or other vehicle under its influence. It was however addictive.

The drug dealer moved in and used his best threatening voice. "Monopoly is a dangerous game, Ms. Rose. It is an easy way to make enemies." Lily would had been intimidated if his 'mobster' voice wasn't so funny. "I am just a contractor. I facilitate the deals. But the people I work for are not happy. And they will not be kind to a lone cooker of drugs who thinks she owns the market."

"I do own the market!" answered Lily with determination. Inside she was a bit worried, but she knew that she had to be tough to play this game. "I am the only one who can make this drug. I dare you to try and reverse engineer it. You will never be able to reproduce it."

"We can work with other drugs."

"Then do it. I will just sell to other dealers. I sure there are plenty out there who will take your place."

"You don't know who you're dealing with. My bosses are with the BASE syndicate. They buy, acquire, supply, and equip."

"Wait, is that an acronym?" Lily had to prevent the laughter from bursting forth.

"Yes, the BASE crime syndicate is able to get anything for anyone, for the right price."

"The right price is my price."

"Ms. Rose, BASE assigns the price. You may have a monopoly, but they have their ways of persuading people. They know lots of things about you, things that will hurt you."

For a moment Lily panicked inside, but she kept her poker face. _Do they know who I am?_

"For instance, 'Ms. Rose,' we know that you are not a 'Miss.'"

 _They know._ Lily felt her poker face weakening.

"You are in fact a 'Mrs.', Mrs. Wright in fact. And you husband's name is Matthew Wright."

 _Our aliases._ Lily felt her heart calm. _They don't know who we really are._ "What is your point?"

"Perhaps you don't fear for yourself. But maybe some associates of my boss will pay your husband a visit. Working mall security can be a dangerous job."

At that Lily laughed out loud. "If you really knew my husband, then you would know that that is no threat at all."

The drug dealer was stunned silent by Lily's sudden display of laughter. He stood up and left her office, but at the door he delivered one final threat. "You better think about all I said. If you don't you will regret it."

* * *

Matthew arrived at the greenhouse just in time to see a short pudgy man leave Lily's office and deliver what sounded like a threat. Matthew approached the man from behind and just stood there. The man turned around and bumped into Matthew's imposing 6'3" frame. He jumped back startled. "Who will be regretting what?"

"Ah?" said the man as he tried to shuffle around Matthew. Matthew stepped back, but remained in the man's way. "I was just talking business. Your boss can be quite tough."

"Is that so? Well, so can her husband when he hears a man threaten his wife." Matthew grabbed the man by his shirt and tie. "Maybe this was a misunderstanding. But if it wasn't, well…you know how threats are made."

Matthew let go of the man. He brushed his shirt and tried to regain his posture and dignity after being manhandled. But as he did so he looked Matthew right in the eye, and suddenly a strange look came upon his face. It was as if he recognized him. _Could he know who I am? There is no way._

"It was just a misunderstanding. I hope the two of you have a nice day." And then he was gone.

"That was strange," said Matthew as he entered Lily's office.

"I hope you didn't scare him off," said Lily.

"Who was that man, and why was he threatening you?"

"He is just a supplier who tried to get me to pay for something I didn't order."

 _That didn't seem like a supplier._ Matthew let it go. He had other things he wanted to talk about.

"Why are you here?" asked Lily before he could say anything. "I thought you were working at the mall today."

"I called in sick."

"Are you not feeling well?"

"I am feeling fine."

"You get paid by the hour, not a salary. If you don't work you don't get paid," said Lily in a stern voice. "Why don't you go down and say you feel better?"

"Because I wanted to talk with you."

"I am busy."

"You are always busy, but I think we both need to stop for just a moment and talk."

"About what?"

"About us."

"What do you mean?" asked Lily as she began to shuffle papers.

"We don't do date night anymore? We don't talk, we don't hardly encounter each other. We don't…you know."

"I thought you were the one who didn't want children."

"I never said that." _Did I?_

"So things are not like when we were newlyweds. This happens."

"I know things have changed. We have grown up a bit more, and that initial love has cooled. But you are still my wife, and I am still your husband. Can't we just put aside our work for a bit and sit down and talk?"

"There is nothing to talk about, and I am really busy. If you won't go back to the mall, would you at least leave me alone in my office?"

Matthew stepped back as he felt the rebuke. _She wants me to leave._ So Matthew tried a different tactic. "What is keeping you so busy? It is the off season."

"There is a lot of planning in the off season."

"I have helped with the planning before, can I lighten the load anyway?"

"No!" The quickness and almost defensiveness of Lily's response alerted Matthew that something was going on. "This is something I need to handle myself."

"Could you at least tell me about it?"

"No, this is my greenhouse."

"I thought it was our greenhouse." _She doesn't want me to know what she is doing. Why?_

"What do you know about growing plants?"

"No much, but that hasn't stopped me from putting a lot of work and energy into this place."

"And you can do so again in the spring. Just let me handle these things."

"What are you hiding from me?"

"I am not hiding anything."

"Then why won't you let me see what you're working on?"

"I am not working on anything?"

"Lily, you can't lie to me. I know you too well. So tell me, what's going on?"

"Why do I have to tell you anything?!"

"Because I am your husband!"

Lily was silent for a bit, then she sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with that man. Who was he, and what did he want from you?"

"He is a customer complaining about the price of my product."

"What product?" Lily looked down and away. Whatever it was she didn't want to say anything about it. "Well?"

"I created a substance that allows people to experience periods of enjoyment and relaxation."

"You created a drug?"

"Yes, in a word."

"Where?"

"Here in the greenhouse."

"And that man was a drug dealer?"

"More like a representative of a larger organization."

"A crime syndicate? Lily! You are selling drugs to organized crime, and you told none of this to me!"

"Of course I said nothing to you. You would have said no. But since you will not use your mutant ability for profit, I thought I would."

"I choose not to sell my metal because it would draw attention to me, and I can't have people searching for me."

"But that's why I use people like that guy. He is discrete."

"Discrete until the cops catch him. Then he will tell them everything. Plus he is dangerous."

"But that's why I have you. You want to help? Then join. I could use the help dealing with guys like him. Why, just now you practically frighten the man stiff."

"Whoa, wait a minute. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my wife is a drug dealer, and now you are asking me to be your muscle."

"It makes sense. You can help. You've been a bouncer and a security guard. This is not all that different."

"It is different. What you are doing is illegal."

"You are a fugitive and I am knowingly living with you. Everything we do is illegal."

"But I am innocent. What you're doing is hurting people."

"My drug is not all that bad. It shouldn't kill anyone."

"Even if they take too much?" Lily was silent. "Is it addictive?" Again Lily was silent. "Lily, we can't do this."

"Well how else are we supposed to make money?"

"We are doing well here."

"Not well enough!"

"Since when did money become so important to you? Are we not doing well enough?"

"Maybe well enough for your standards."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. We live frugally, but you have never complained before. We make enough for the two of us to get by just fine."

Suddenly Lily burst into a rage. "I can't keep living like this. I don't want to make just enough for the two of us. I want more!" Lily's outrage turned in to an anger directed at Matthew. "And if you don't, then maybe I married the wrong person."

Matthew was stunned. All this seemed out of the blue and he had no idea what to say. He finally came up with some words. "Lily, there is no one else I would rather be with than you. If you need more, then I will do what I can to get more. But there has to be another way."

"I want you to want more."

"I don't understand."

"Then maybe you never will."

"I need to think." Matthew shook his head as his mind was spinning. "Can we talk about this later?"

Lily just shrugged her shoulders and waved him out of her office.

Matthew left the office and the greenhouse entirely. He walked aimlessly through the city as he tried to wrap his mind around all that he had heard. _Why does she suddenly want more? She has never cared about the things we've had. She's never once asked to buy something special or to have something we couldn't afford. What has changed? Am I really so clueless about my wife?_

* * *

Lily sat in her office for a while latter fuming. _Just the two of us!_ Then she broke down. She cried and sobbed. _Just the two of us. Why doesn't he want kids? Why? Is there something wrong with me? Does he not want me to be a mother?_

* * *

The drug dealer wasted no time in pulling up a file on his computer. In it was a photo that had been sent to all the ranking members of the syndicate. He looked at the photo long and hard. Then he greedily rubbed his hands together. _The boss is going to like this,_ he thought as he checked his gun.

* * *

Matthew walked quite a ways before he turned to head home. The sky darken quickly as a storm was about to roll through. _Great, I'll never make it home before the rain hits._ Indeed it did start raining. But Matthew was too much in his own thoughts to notice.

 _What's happened? We seemed so happy last spring. What has changed? None of this makes any sense._

Matthew was nearing his apartment. He was getting wet, so he decided to take a short cut through an alley. He was almost through the alley when his thoughts were interrupted by his warning sense. _How can I… Bullets!_

Three bullets were going to hit him in the back. Matthew armor his back and the bullets bounced off harmlessly. _Who darns shot me in the back?!_ Matthew turned around and saw a short pudgy man with a pistol and a scared look on his face. _The drug dealer!_

If the circumstances had been different and Matthew had not just left a fight with his wife, what followed might have been less painful for the drug dealer. Matthew took long steady strides towards the man, covering the ground between deceptively quickly. The drug dealer took three more harmless shots at Matthew before Matthew grabbed his gun arm and violently twisted it. The distinctive sound of bones breaking could be heard in the alley.

Before the man could scream Matthew punched him in the throat, hauled him off his feet, and threw him into the side of the building. Matthew then proceeded to deliver three powerful punches to the man's gut and one punch to the jaw bone. The Man collapsed on the ground, but Matthew pulled him back up and put a knife to the man's throat.

"A man tries to shoot me in the back. I'd like to know why."

The drug dealer was still dealing with the punch to the throat and the pain of at least two broken bones. Naturally he didn't answer.

"Tell me now or I break your fingers one by one."

"Sir, dropped the knife and back away from the man!" Matthew looked to his right and saw a police officer with his gun drawn.

"Officer, this man tried to shoot me with his gun. I am only defending myself."

"Help me," said the drug dealer to the cop in a hoarse voice.

"Sir, put the knife down, now!"

"Okay," said Matthew. "I am putting the knife down." He dropped the knife on the alley floor.

"Now step away from the man."

Matthew slowly lowered the man, but as he did he whispered this threat. "Go ahead and run. I will find you. You will tell me who hired you to kill me."

After Matthew had let the man go, the cop still with his gun pointed at Matthew said, "On your knees. Interlock your fingers on your head."

"Sorry officer, I can't do that."

"I said on your knees!"

Matthew stepped backwards and then turned around. The cop continued to threaten, but Matthew ignored him. As soon as Matthew was out of the alley, he began to run; not towards his apartment, but towards the greenhouse. _If that drug dealer talks, the cops will know about Lily's operation._

It was night by the time Matthew returned to the greenhouse. He ran all around the yard searching for Lily. "Lily! Lily!" But he was unable to find her.

In his search he entered the back room of the green house, and there he found Lily's special crop. He walked towards one of the plants and attempted to take a big sniff, but his warning sense told him of the danger of the drug.

Matthew stood straight and took in his situation. _I am in a room full of drugs. If the cops find this they will try to hunt Lily down. There is also an office full of records that would lead them to her._ Matthew wandered out of the greenhouse as he thought through his options. Then he saw the lawn mower, and an idea came to him.

 _This place is insured, and the owner is ready for retirement. If I destroy all the evidence, then Lily and I can make a clean break._ Matthew ran to the shed were all the equipment was kept. In there he found the two jugs of gasoline they kept on hand for the mower and other small pieces of equipment. As luck would have it, they were both full.

Matthew used most of the gas to dowse the drug making plants. Then he lit a match and threw it into the room. The gas caught fire immediately, and Matthew left for the office. He used the remaining gas to start the cabinets on fire. Then Matthew returned the jugs to the shed to hide the arson.

Just as Matthew was returning from the shed, he saw a figure running towards the fire. "Lily!"

"Matthew! We have to put it out!"

"No, we have to leave before the cops come."

"But everything is in there. If we don't save it…"

"What's in there will destroy us. We need to leave it."

Lily suddenly turned to face Matthew. In the firelight Matthew could see her face turn from concerned to angry. "You started the fire."

"Yes, but…"

"You started the fire! Why would you start the fire?!"

"Because your drug dealer tried to kill me, and got himself caught by the police. He will rat you out. I needed to destroy the evidence. I did this to protect us."

"You did this to sabotage my operation. You can't stand that I found a way to make money."

"I don't approve of it, true, but this was not about that."

"Don't lie to me." Lily gave Matthew a hard shove to the shoulder. Matthew fell back a ways not because of the force, but in surprise. "You destroyed everything!" Lily hit him again. "I worked so hard to produce this," Lily pushed again and again, "and you destroyed all of it."

Suddenly Lily screamed at the top of her lungs as though in a pain of great effort. Matthew didn't know what she was doing until he noticed that the ground was covered in plants that a second ago weren't there. Then she lashed out at him.

Ever since the attack in Miami Matthew had been training Lily how to fight. Now she used that training against him. Lily aimed skilled blows to Matthew's neck, knees, and gut. But Matthew could see it all coming. He couldn't dodge any of it because he found it difficult to move his feet in the ever growing bramble. Because he didn't want Lily to hurt herself, he took most of the blows, but he did armor a few places.

Then Lily grabbed a vine growing near her. _She's not doing what I think she's doing, is she?_ With a flick of her wrist the vine flew up in the air and came down on Matthew with a crack. This time he had to armor himself or else be cut open by the whip. Matthew was in shock. _Lily used her vine whip against me!_ The vine whip was Lily's own invention. Creating a vine that had a leather like strength wasn't easy, and neither was learning to wield a bull whip, but Lily had learned both. _This isn't just venting. Lily is actually attacking me!_

But despite immobilizing Matthew's feet and using a whip with great skill, Lily was not able to get past Matthew's dual mutant abilities of metal producing and danger foresight. He simply armored any place where he foresaw the whip striking. When Lily tried to wrap the whip around his neck Matthew formed a blade on his neck, and the whip was severed when Lily pulled it tight.

Lily panted in exhaustion for a bit, and then reached out her arms in a display of effort. Matthew looked down to realize that the plants grabbing his legs were now crawling up his whole body. Matthew raised his arms to prevent them from becoming trapped. Then the plants started to squeeze him.

 _What is she doing? Is she trying to kill me?_ Matthew saw the anger on Lily's fire silhouetted face. "Lily, stop! What are you doing?" Lily let out a gasp as she stopped her effort, and a look of exhaustion came over her. "Lily, I'm sorry. Please stop." Lily looked Matthew in the eyes, but now there was a look of sadness on her face, and tears glistened in the firelight. "How did it come to this? Can't we just leave here and start over?"

"No, Matthew, no." Lily wiped her eyes. "I'm leaving."

"Yes, let's leave."

"You don't understand, Matthew. I'm leaving you."

"What?"

"I can't do this anymore. Good bye, Matthew."

"Lily, no, please don't go." Matthew tried to move, but he was still trapped by the plants and vines. "Lily, wait!" Matthew formed a crude machete and started hacking at the plants, but Lily had turned her back. "Lily, no!" He hack some more and more.

Finally Matthew was free. But Lily was gone. "Lily!" he screamed. He ran all over the grounds shouting her name, "Lily!" He must have seemed like a mad man, running and shouting, "Lily!" Finally he stopped, dropped to his knees and cried. "Lily, please don't go."

Metalloy was all alone.


	7. Alloy and the Panther

Alloy and the Panther (three years prior to _X-Men_ )

It had been a total of four months that Thomas had worked at the mission. Things were beginning to look in good shape, and Thomas was beginning to wonder if it was time to move on.

 _Move on to what?_ Thought Thomas as he lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep that night. Fr. Peter and Kurt were both asleep, but Thomas just laid there.

 _I suppose I go back to America._ Then Thomas recalled why he was in Wakanda. _If I go back to America will those people still be after me?_

Thomas was just thinking about the strange group that had attacked and kidnapped him back in California when he thought he hear some noise from outside. Just as he was considering checking it out, Kurt suddenly sat up.

"Hey, Nightcrawler, do you hear something?"

"I think so." Nightcrawler turned his head as though listening. _What is this guy's hearing like?_ "It might be that a lion or panther has slipped into the mission."

"Is that a problem?"

"It could be if it gets to the animals, but…"

The night was broken by a scream. Fr. Peter was also apparently awake, since he got to his feet as quickly as Kurt and Thomas. All three ran outside. But instead of facing a large cat, they faced a man with a gun. He turned and aimed at the approaching mutants and the priest.

Thomas reacted instantly by turning and tackling Fr. Peter. He foresaw the bullets coming and felt them bounce off his armored back all before he heard the gun shots. He also thought he heard a strange 'fump' sound. He hit the ground, but Fr. Peter pushed him off and stood up. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

Thomas formed a knife in his hand and searched for Kurt, but the Nightcrawler was no-where to be seen.

Another man came and stood next to the gunman and lowered the man's weapon. "I am a soldier of Erik Killmonger, and if I had my way you and your precious sisters would all be dead. You have outstayed your welcome here, priest. When Killmonger rules this country, you had better be gone."

"What do you want with us?"

"Nothing. I am just here to recruit from among your students."

Thomas, still on the ground saw a group of armed soldiers carrying two kids away. The old German nun was chasing them and yelling. A soldier hit her across the face with his gun butt. As she fell to the ground, Thomas rose to his feet. His knife was not yet visible, but it was about to be in this soldier's throat.

"Don't be hasty, priest. If you do anything to attack us or follow us, we'll kill all your women and children."

Thomas stopped, but he still gripped his knife. Then he heard one of the kids screaming. "Thomas help."

 _John!_ Fr. Peter restrained him, and it took all his will power to stop himself from lashing out and killing them all.

"That's better," said the soldier. "Alright, boys, let's head out." Military vehicles arrived and picked up the men and their hostages. And then they drove off.

Fr. Peter and Thomas ran to the old nun. As they got there other sisters, including Sister Lucy, were helping her up. Her face was badly bruised, but there was a fire in her eyes. Kurt also joined them.

"Sister Lucy," said Fr. Peter. "Who did they take?"

"They took John and Susanna."

"Where?" asked Thomas.

"I don't know," answered Sister Lucy suddenly startled at the anger in Thomas' voice.

"You, Nightcrawler, can you track them?" said Thomas, turning towards Kurt Wagner.

"Yes, I can follow them."

"On foot?"

"Not exactly."

"Do it. Find out where they are going, but don't do anything to them yet."

"Okay." Suddenly Nightcrawler disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke accompanied by a 'fump' sound. He reappeared further down the road, and then disappeared again. Thomas stood there for a bit trying to process the fact that Kurt had just teleported away. He shook his head, and wondered briefly if this was all a dream.

"What are you planning?" said Fr. Peter in a stern voice.

"Nothing until Kurt returns. Then I need to think. Why did they take just those two?"

The old German nun answered in an angry but matter of fact voice. "What did she say?"

Sister Lucy answered, "She said because they were mutants."

Fr. Peter spoke again. "Killmonger is an enemy of the king. He must be raising an army of mutants to over throw him."

"I don't care about Killmonger or the king!" said Thomas. "I only care about John and Susanna, and I'm going to get them back."

"You can't," said Fr. Peter. "We are not to get involved in local politics."

"You already are involved. But I am not asking you to do anything. I will do this myself." Sister Lucy was about to object, but Thomas looked directly at her. "You keep telling me that God sent me to you. Well, if that's true, he did not only sent Thomas the worker, but he also sent Alloy the mutant." Thomas closed his fist, and it became coated in metal. He also allowed metal to form on his face and left arm. "Now, a mutant brother and sister of mine have just been kidnapped, and I am not going to let that go unchallenged."

* * *

Sister Lucy didn't sleep at all that night. She sat by the bed of their leader, who lead them in prayer until she fell asleep. Sister Lucy continued the prayer, but her mind was focused on the kids, and whatever it was that Thomas was preparing to do.

It was late into the night when Nightcrawler returned. Sister Lucy had just come out of the Church to see if she could gage Thomas' plans. When Nightcrawler suddenly appeared in a cloud of blue smoke, Sister Lucy tried to approach him, but Thomas got there first. "Did you find them?"

"Yes, but they are hiding in a fortified area. They have guns and soldiers."

"Let me worry about that. Can you get me there?"

Nightcrawler hesitated. "Are you sure that you want to do that?"

"Is it dangerous? Being teleported I mean."

"Some, but mostly it is tiring."

"Then I'll do it."

"What are you going to do?" asked Sister Lucy.

Thomas looked at her, and she squirmed a bit at the intensity of his stare. "I will do what I have to; no more no less." Sister Lucy had no response for that. "Kurt, if you're ready, let's go."

Kurt Wagner embraced Thomas, and the both of them vanished in a cloud of smoke. A little girl whom Sister Lucy had not previously noticed was next to her. "What do we do?"

"We pray for our friends." _Oh, God, please don't let them do anything terrible._

* * *

Nightcrawler was not kidding when he said teleporting was tiring. When they finally arrived at Killmonger's base of operations the sun was up in the sky, and Thomas was exhausted. They spied the site from a distance.

"Do you know where the kids are?"

"No, I did not dare enter."

"I don't blame you." Thomas looked around. The complex was surround by a wall with only one gate for vehicle access. On the walls were mounted automatic guns of what appeared to be a variety of calibers. _Some for vehicles, some for people. These guys are prepared. The frontal approach is not an option._ Thomas scanned one of the watch towers. There was a single guard up there. _If I could climb unnoticed…Ah, Alloy, use your head. You have a teleporter right next to you._

"Do you think you could get me on top of that tower?"

"I could, but I don't know if I want to."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to fight. It is not that I am scare, although I am, but I just don't want to hurt anyone."

Thomas paused. He had just assumed that Nightcrawler would be willing to help. He had imagined himself doing all the fighting. "Do you want to rescue the kids?"

"Yes," hesitated Nightcrawler.

"Then help me get in, and then get the kids out. I will do all the fighting."

"Okay, but can we wait for night? The rest will help us, and the dark will hide us."

"Good idea. You are the Nightcrawler after all."

* * *

Night fell and the soldier scanned the fortress with night vision binoculars. "We could take the fortress my liege, but we would lose many men."

The man next to the soldier was wearing an all-black costume that covered his entire body. "I wish to avoid such losses, especially of those inside. Killmonger may think of those children as soldiers, but I think of them as innocent civilians. Fortunately, Captain, there is no need for a direct assault. I think this situation would be better served by a single infiltrator than an army."

The captain looked through his binoculars again, when he saw something completely unexplainable. "My liege, you need to see this." He handed the binoculars to the man in the black suit. "Those two men on top of the tower, they just appeared there."

The man in the black suit watched for a bit before speaking. "It looks like we are not the only ones sneaking in tonight. Get your men and secure a rendezvous point. I am going in."

* * *

The teleportation was strange, but Thomas hit the ground running. Within a two seconds of teleporting on to the top of the tower, Thomas charged the sentry and grabbed him from behind. It took another couple seconds for him to pass out.

"Is he dead?" asked Nightcrawler.

"No, that was a sleeper hold I learned years ago. Unfortunately I think some people are going to die tonight, if we are to be successful." Thomas then led the way into the fortress. The two mutants were able to sneak around most of the patrolling guards. Thomas was impressed by Nightcrawler's stealth. _He's making me seem like a noisy oaf._

But then they came to a point where two guards were talking in their native tongue, and not moving from their spot. Thomas turned to Nightcrawler. He held up two fingers indicating the guards, and another two indicating them. He then depicted with his fingers his plan. Nightcrawler nodded his understanding.

Nightcrawler peered around the corner and then vanished. Thomas spirited down the hall. In the meantime Nightcrawler had appeared on the other side of the men, and they had turned to face him. Even before they could raise their weapons, Nightcrawler vanished again. By this time Alloy was upon them. He hit the first on right on the top of the head with a steel tonfa. Then he swung his second tonfa into the jaw of the second guard. To Alloy's happy surprise both men went down and stayed down. "Nice work, Nightcrawler," he whispered to the teleporting mutant behind him.

"Shh!" said Nightcrawler as he put his ear against a door in the hallway. "I hear young voices."

"Let's open it up."

"It's padlocked."

Alloy changed one of his tonfas into a thick blade. He jabbed it into the padlock's loop and then using it as a lever cut through the lock. "Problem solved." He opened the door to see a dozen kids ranging from 12 to about 16. He scanned them until he found who he was looking for. "John," Alloy reached out to the boy with a metal coated arm. "You are a brave boy. Let's get you home." The little boy took his arm and stood up. The slightly older Susanna ran into Nightcrawler's arms.

"Thomas, what are we to do with the rest of the kids?"

Alloy looked at the rest of the scared faces. "Everyone get up. We are here to rescue you. If we can get you home we will. If not we have a safe place for you." The children slowly got up, and followed Alloy who was holding little John by the hand.

Just as they were about to leave the radio from one of the unconscious guards began to speak. "Recruit guards report, over." Alloy froze. _What do I do?_ He slowly picked up the radio. "New recruit guards report, over."

Alloy summoned his best African ascent. "All is well, over."

"Next report in an hour."

"That was close," said Nightcrawler.

"Too close," answered Alloy. "What if the other guards we knocked out have to report as well? We may be in a tough spot." Alloy thought for a bit, and then came to a decision. "Nightcrawler, can you get all these kids to the tower and teleport them to the place where we scouted this fortress?"

"I think so."

"Good, then do it." Alloy turned to the boy holding his hand. "Now, John. I need you to be brave and go with Mr. Wagner, okay. I will see you soon."

"Where are you going?" asked Nightcrawler.

"You need a diversion, and I am going to give it to you."

"How?"

"By doing the most attention grabbing thing I can," said Alloy. "I am going after Killmonger."

* * *

The man in the black suit was hidden down the hallway from the two intruders and watching them with great interest. _Let's see what this American has in mind._

* * *

Alloy left the group and ran down the hallway. He dodged a few more guards, not wanting to draw attention towards Nightcrawler and the kids. But after running down three more hallways he stumble across a guard. "Hello, friend." The guard didn't seem all that friendly when he raised his gun. Alloy grabbed the gun with his right hand and slapped the guard's grip with a spiked left hand. The guard gave a scream before Alloy dropped him to the ground. _Hmm… Not a lot of noise from that one. I'll have to try harder next time._

The next time came quickly. He walked around the corner and was right before two dumbfounded guards. "Hello gentlemen, I'm lost can you give me directions?"

One of them lifted his pistol, but Alloy got inside his arm, grabbed his wrist, and pulled. Simultaneously Alloy delivered a kick to the second guard's face. The first guard's pistol fired harmlessly behind Alloy. _Good, some noise._ The second guard fell backwards after Alloy's foot hit his face. Alloy delivered a great punch to the first guard's gut, causing him to crumple. He then knocked out the second guard as he tried to get up.

Returning to the first guard, he stripped away his pistol, picked him off the ground, and held a knife to his throat. "Where is your leader?" The guard refused to speak, but Alloy pushed the knife further, drawing just a little blood. "I am not going to ask again."

"His office is across the mess hall. He is usually there." Alloy dropped the man and hit him across the face. He fell to the ground, but Alloy knew he wasn't unconscious. _Go ahead and warn them. I want them coming after me, not Nightcrawler and the kids._

Alloy found the mess hall and began to cross it. But suddenly he realized that he was surrounded by about a dozen men with guns. "What's the trouble, boys?"

"You are a bold man, American," said one of the men.

"Who are you?"

"I am Erik Killmonger."

"Are you?" Alloy sized up the man. He was taller than Alloy's six feet, three inches, and was thick with muscle. _This guy is way more ripped than Metalloy_. And all indications warned Alloy that this man could fight. There was also the issue of the dozen soldiers surrounding him. They would be unlikely to actually start a fire fight when friendly fire would be abundant, but Alloy knew they would still be a problem. "Well, Mr. Killmonger, I have a fight with you."

"Is that so? You must forgive me, if I am disappointed. I really didn't think that the Black Panther would send a stupid white American to challenge me."

"I don't know anything about any Black Panther. My name is Alloy, and I came here to fight you all on my own."

Killmonger gave a subtle sign, and Alloy foresaw a bullet coming right for his chest. He armored just as he was struck. The blow knocked him to the ground, but otherwise harmed him not. _Wait for maximum surprise._

But as Alloy waited on the ground one of the men in the rear was suddenly flung aside, and a man in an all-black suit charged into the circle. He managed to take out two more men with greater speed and skill than anyone Alloy had ever seen.

Killmonger shouted, "Kill the Black Panther!"

 _Black Panther? Huh._ A man ran by Alloy to fight this new adversary, but Alloy had other plans. He reached up and grabbed the man's belt, and then he pulled him to the ground preventing the man from bracing his fall. The man hit his head on the ground. Then Alloy was on his feet. He caught one more man by surprise before the others realized that he wasn't dead.

Just as he was breaking the arm of his third opponent, Alloy realized that Killmonger was gone. In his place was two men with automatic rifles. Heedless of their own men, they open fired. Alloy put up his arms to block his face from the bullets, and braced himself for impact. He took several hits which threaten to knock him over. _Stay on your feet, Alloy. I hate rifles._

The men paused in surprise as Alloy continued to stand there. _So predictable._ During their pause Alloy threw a small knife which landed perfectly in one of the men's throat. The other man took off running when the Blank Panther suddenly charged forward a great speed. Alloy ignored both the guard and the Panther, and ran down the hall in which Killmonger had disappeared.

He came to a small room filled with an assortment of old African weapons. There was one metal spear that seemed out of place. In the center of the room was Killmonger. He looked even larger and more muscular than was possible.

"Oh, how disappointing. It's the American that made it through. Well you will make for a good warm up for my fight with the Black Panther."

"Oh, I don't disappoint." Thomas moved in closer in a boxing stance. Killmonger laughed at his opponent. As soon as the distance between the two fighters was closed, Thomas switched to a martial arts style fighting. Killmonger easily blocked Alloy's attacks.

"Ah, you know more than you let on, but I am still the superior fighter."

"Big words doesn't make a fighter."

Then Killmonger attacked, and Alloy had to jump back in retreat. Killmonger was not only really strong, he was also extremely fast. Alloy duck a powerful blow meant for his head, and then sidestepped a blow to his gut. He spun around and counter attacked. He delivered a left to Killmonger's face, but it was primarily a distraction for a right to his rib cage. When Alloy's fist hit Killmonger's side he found anything but a soft spot. Not hesitating Alloy gave a left to the man's gut, but only found hard abs. Frustrated Alloy kicked his right foot into Killmonger's abs, but Killmonger caught his foot. Alloy answered with a left round house kick to the face. Killmonger dropped him in order to avoid the attack.

Killmonger then unleashed a counter attack of his own. Alloy held up his arms in defense, but gave into his mutant ability to protect the rest of his body. At first Killmonger didn't seem to notice that he was punching metal, but then he came to that realization. "A mutant with metal skin! That explains a lot."

Alloy, realizing that he no longer had that secret, openly coated his hands in metal. "Like I said, I don't disappoint."

Then the real battle began. Alloy punched hard with his metal hands. He tried for a face shot, but wasn't able to land one. He had several body shots, but they were not doing the damage he wanted. _I'll get through this guy's muscular build eventually._

Killmonger to his credit was dealing heavy blows to Alloy. Even shots to his gut were felt by Alloy. _If I couldn't see his attacks ahead of time, I would probably lose._

Then Killmonger got a face shot. Alloy's metal protected him from serious injury, but the blow was enough to rattle his head. Alloy stumble for a bit, and Killmonger was able to lift him up over his head. _Uh oh, not good._ He then hurled Alloy into a cement pillar. Alloy armored himself, but still hit the pillar hard. _Ow!_

Alloy got to his feet and saw a smiling Killmonger. But behind Killmonger now stood the Black Panther. Killmonger must have read Alloy's eyes because he turned around and saw his new opponent.

"Finally, I get my chance to kill the Black Panther. All this preparation for a coup, and you come to me."

"Your coup is over, Erik."

"Malice, take care of the American."

 _Who's Malice…oh crap._ Alloy ducked as a spear flew right where his head had just been. He spun around to see a black woman with the metal spear he had noticed earlier. Her outfit showed a fair amount of skin and also revealed her strength. _If Killmonger trusts her to take me down, this woman is not one to mess with._

"Listen, lady. My father beat my mother, and he is not a man I wish to imitate. So I have a policy against hitting ladies."

"Then this fight will be quick," responded Malice.

She quickly thrust her spear, but Alloy dodged it. He circled around her and took a defensive stance. He really didn't want to hurt this woman. _If I can get that spear out of her hand._

She closed in. To Alloy's surprise she was extremely good with her spear. She both thrust the spear and used it metal shaft to push. She kept Alloy too far away from her for him to subdue her, but close enough for the spear's point to be a problem. At one moment she thrust quickly at Alloy's chest. He turned to deflect it, but it make a groove in his metal chest. _That's one strong spear, and one strong lady. What are they made of?_

By this time Alloy had come up with a plan. Malice was getting increasingly frustrated. She seemed to have the upper hand, but was never able to land a decent blow due to Alloy's foresight of which she knew nothing. _Let's hope you make a mistake._

When Malice attacked again, Alloy feigned a retreat. He backed up a good three feet. Malice reacted quicker than Alloy thought throwing her spear right at him, but again his foresight warning saved him. He dove forward and to the right avoiding the thrown spear. That spear throw was supposed to end the fight, but now Alloy faced an unarmed opponent. _They never appreciate my ability to get out of the way._

Alloy ran forward to grapple with the woman. But she tossed him to the side with strength and skill. _Whoa!_ Then she made a move for her spear which was embedded in a column. Alloy worked quickly to make two weighted steel balls with a heavy cord between them. He then threw his impromptu bolas at the woman's legs. The balls wrapped around her legs and the cord bound her, causing her to fall to the ground. _I can't believe that worked._

Alloy didn't waste time marveling at his success. Instead he jumped forward to get to her before she got her legs untangled. She was nearly free, but Alloy took advantage of the fact that her hands were down by her feet. He slapped a metal ring around her right wrist and another around her left ankle and bound the two with a metal cord. Malice shouted some nasty sounding words in her own language as she tried to stand with her hand fixed to her foot. Alloy laughed out loud. She tried to body slam him, but Alloy merely side stepped. And then he bound her left wrist to her right leg behind her back. He reinforced both metal bounds, and then left the woman in a bit of a contorted position on the ground.

When he looked back to see how the fight between Killmonger and Black Panther was going, Alloy dropped his jaw. He had never seen such a furious fight. Killmonger must have been holding back during his fight with Alloy, because now he was attacking with more speed, more strength, and an assortment of hidden weapons. The Black Panther appeared to have taken some damage, but so did Killmonger.

 _Of course I was holding back too. No more._ Alloy formed a pair of metal tonfas, and waited for an opportune moment to jump in. But then the Black Panther gained the upper hand. He had Killmonger half pinned from behind. Killmonger was fighting to get out, and Alloy decided that shouldn't happen.

He flipped around his right handed tonfa and reshaped it into a nearly closed hook. He then hooked Killmonger's left wrist which he was using to push himself off the ground and back into fighting position. The Black Panther reacted quickly by grabbing the metal hook and pulling both Killmonger's hands behind his back.

"Want me to complete the restrain?" said Alloy.

The Black Panther looked at him, and then nodded. Alloy crossed to the other side and formed a hook on the other side, slipped Killmonger's other hand into it, and then closed both hooks into a tight brace around Killmonger's wrists. Then the Black Panther gave Killmonger a well-placed blow to the head, and the man went unconscious.

The two men now stood up over their defeated foes. The Black Panther turned to him. "You are a mutant?"

"Yeah, just like you. No normal human can move that fast or be that strong."

"I am not a mutant. I am the Black Panther."

"Okay," said Alloy skeptically. "I am Alloy."

"Why are you here, Alloy?"

"I volunteered at a mission not far from here on the border with Kenya. This man kidnapped two kids from our orphanage. I wasn't going to let that go." Alloy let his weariness show for a moment. "So, what do we do with these two?"

"I will put them in prison."

"You have the authority to do that?"

"Of course, I am the King of Wakanda."

"You're the king?!" Alloy suddenly stood straighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was with royalty."

"You are forgiven. My men will take these two into custody. Where did your blue mutant friend take the children?"

"You've been spying on us." The Black Panther didn't respond. "He got them out of the fortress."

"He is a teleporter?"

"Yeah," said Alloy. King or not, Alloy was not comfortable with how much this man knew.

"Come, I am not yet finished. The wall defenses must be disabled before my soldiers can enter here."

Alloy followed the Black Panther out of the building and into the open courtyard used for vehicle storage. But as soon as they got out there Alloy's warning sense went off.

"Look out!" Bullets were everywhere. Some of them were heavy caliber. Not a few struck Alloy's armor. He managed to duck behind a stone pillar. The Black Panther joined him. "You alright?"

"It will take more than that to kill the Black Panther."

"Well, at least one of those guns is a .50 caliber. I can take a few of those rounds, but I do not wish to test myself against a machine gun." Alloy peeked around the pillar and saw his opponents. "I see one heavy machine gun and two men with automatic rifles. They are up on the wall near the gate."

"Then those are the ones we need to take out." It was then that Alloy first noticed that the Black Panther had retractable metal claws fixed to his fingers.

"How much time would you need to get up there and take them out?" asked Alloy.

"Thirty seconds."

Alloy thought about it for a bit. "I could probably get that for you." He tried to peek around the pillar again, but before he exposed his head his warning sense told him to pull back. The .50 caliber rounds shattered a bit of the pillar where his face would have been. "That was close."

The Black Panther stared at him from behind his mask. "You have very interesting reflexes. Like you know what is coming next."

"And you have uncanny observation skills. Are you ready to run?"

"Yes."

"Go!" Alloy ran out across the courtyard. The riflemen targeted him first, but their rounds were not a problem for Alloy. But then he had to adjust his route as the .50 caliber began to take aim at him. _Hurry up, Panther._

At that moment Alloy spared a glance towards the guns. The Black Panther was almost to the wall. The .50 cal changed its aim towards its bigger threat. There was nothing that Alloy could do to stop it.

Suddenly a blue cloud appeared behind the gunner. A blue skinned creature grabbed the gunner, and both of them disappeared leaving only a cloud of blue smoke. _Nightcrawler!_ Alloy had forgotten about his partner. The two of them reappeared in front of Alloy. Nightcrawler pushed the gunner in front of Alloy, and then disappeared again. Alloy knocked out the gunner and then looked back to the wall.

Nightcrawler had appeared between the two riflemen. They aimed their rifles at him, but didn't shoot because the other guy was in the line of fire. Nightcrawler wrapped his tail around one of the men's gun arm and pulled. Then man didn't let go of his rifle soon enough and was tossed into the other guy. But the other guy sidestepped and took aim.

Nightcrawler vanished from the man's sights just as he pulled the trigger. As the man was shooting empty air, Nightcrawler reappeared behind him, wrapped his tail around the man's torso, and spun him around.

At that moment the Black Panther scaled the wall and jumped on top of the man that Nightcrawler had first disarmed. The man stabbed the Black Panther with a knife, but the knife merely deflected off the Panther's suit. The Panther knocked the man out with one well-placed blow to the head. The last guy got up off the ground, but looking back and forth between Nightcrawler and the Black Panther he jumped off the wall and ran into the jungle.

By this time Alloy had reached the base of the wall. He fashioned a grappling hook and climbed his way up. Just as he reached the top he heard Nightcrawler's voice. "…in the Munich Circus they called me the incredible Nightcrawler."

"I am the Black Panther, King of Wakanda."

Nightcrawler gave the Panther a bow. "Your majesty."

"I see you two have met," said Alloy. "Thanks for the help, Kurt." Then he heard some shouting from the courtyard of the fortress. "Sounds like there is a few more coming."

"Did you evacuate all the children?" asked the Black Panther.

"Yes, I got them all out," said Nightcrawler. "I must return to them."

"Wait, I will come with you." The Black Panther pulled what looked like a gun from his belt. He aimed in the air and squeezed the trigger. A flare shot out. "Now my people will come and secure our prisoners. Please lead me to the children."

Nightcrawler looked at Alloy with a question on his face. "I will come too." Nightcrawler nodded and grabbed a hold of both men. Alloy shut his eyes as he felt the strange sensation of teleportation. When he opened his eyes he was in the forest with a bunch of kids staring at him.

The Black Panther approached the children. "Do not fear, children. I am the King of Wakanda. I will return you to your homes if I can."

* * *

It had been two days since the kidnapping of John and Susanna. Sister Lucy had never prayed so fervently before. She feared for John and Susanna, but she also feared what Thomas and Kurt would do. _Will they be killed? Will they kill?_

It was just after noon when a military vehicle pulled up to the mission. Fr. Peter sent everyone inside, but Sister Lucy stood next to him. Out of the front passenger seat stepped out a man in a full black suit. _The Black Panther!_ Sister Lucy had never seen him before, but she knew the legends.

Then two children came out from the back of the vehicle. "Sussanna! John!" Sister Lucy dropped to her knees and opened her arms.

"Sister Lucy!" shouted both children, and they ran into her arms.

"Fr. Peter, I return these children to you, and I assure you that the men responsible will not disturb your mission again," said the Black Panther in his deep African voice.

"Thank you, your majesty."

 _What about Thomas and Kurt? Oh!_ From behind the Panther stepped Thomas and Kurt. "Are you two alright?" asked Sister Lucy before she could prevent the words from leaving her mouth.

"We are just fine," said Thomas.

"Fr. Peter, I have been aware of your mission, here at the edge of my kingdom, but I have not yet visited. Will you show me around?"

"Of course, your majesty. It will be my pleasure."

The Black Panther and Fr. Peter walked off. Some other sisters took the children to the orphanage. Sister Lucy stayed with Kurt and Thomas. "You sought the help of the King?"

"No, but I wish I would have thought of that," said Thomas. "But I had no idea that the King would be so…incredible."

"I would not have expected a King to fight like him," said Kurt. "But he is the Black Panther."

"So what now?" asked Sister Lucy.

"John and Susanna are back. All the other kids have been returned to their homes. Some may find their way here, as they do not have homes," explained Thomas. "Or they might end up at an orphanage in Wakanda."

"So everything is back to the way it was."

"Not exactly," said Kurt.

"What do you mean?"

Thomas paused, "Kurt and I made quite a display, and some of Killmonger's followers may recognize us. If we stay we may put this orphanage at risk."

"So we are leaving," finished Kurt.

"Where will you go?"

"Back to the America, for me. I don't know where in America, but the Black Panther has arranged a subtle passage back for me."

"And I will go with him. I have always wanted to go to America," said Kurt.

"We will miss you, and so will the kids."

"I know, and I will miss them." Thomas laughed for a bit. "I would never have imagined myself saying that."

Sister Lucy smiled. "You still don't think God sent you to us?"

"I don't know." Thomas looked around in a questioning fashion. "Maybe."

* * *

The subtle from of transportation that the Black Panther had arranged was a transpacific freighter. But this time Alloy was not a stowaway. He and Nightcrawler actually worked on the freighter and earned a bit of money.

After weeks of travel they arrived at their destination. Nightcrawler teleported them off the ship in order to avoid customs. Then they started walking through the ship yard.

 _Wow! It's cold._ Alloy folded his arms around him to try and shield himself from the chill.

Nightcrawler too seemed cold. "Is it always this cold in America?"

"No, and I would not have expected Washington to be this cold."

"Washington? I thought were on the West Coast."

"Washington State, not Washington D.C. They are different places."

"How do you know we are in Washington?"

"We're not in California."

As they walked out of the shipping yard Alloy suddenly became aware of his fugitive status. _They won't find me here, will they?_ As Alloy lowered his head he noticed the license plate of a truck. _Uh oh._ He looked at another plate, and another. They were all the same. "Kurt, we are not in Washington."

"Where are we?"

"Alaska."

"Where?"

"Alaska, the last state to be added to the country expect Hawaii. _Why couldn't we have ended up in Hawaii?_ It is not connected to the rest of the country, but it is in fact north and west of Canada."

"Is that why it is so cold?"

"Yeah, that's why."

"What do we do?"

"I still want to get to the main part of the U.S."

"So do I."

"Unfortunately we cannot travel together anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because in this country, I am a wanted man." Nightcrawler looked alarmingly at his friend. "Don't worry, I am innocent. But that won't stop the authorities, and I don't trust them to treat a mutant fairly." Alloy continued, "If you are with me, you will make me more noticeable." Alloy winced a bit. "Sorry, no offense."

"Non taken."

"And if you are caught with me, then you will be in trouble. Our being together will only hurt us."

"I understand. What should I do? I don't have any friends here."

"Find a Catholic priest, I guess. If you can find one like Fr. Peter then you will be in luck."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Try Boston, that's a Catholic town."

"Where will you go?"

"Canada, for now. I need to cut through it anyway." Alloy turned towards Nightcrawler. "Good luck my friend. I hope we meet again."

"May God's blessings go with you," answered Nightcrawler. The two of them shook hands and parted ways.


	8. Epilogue: New Enemies And New Friends

Epilogue: Enemies United (two years prior to _X-Men_ )

A stiff Japanese woman led Richard Sten into the Colonel's office. "Welcome, Marshall Sten."

"Thank you, Colonel Stryker." Sten took his seat across from the military scientist. The woman that had escorted him in took a seat behind Sten next to the door. _Is she a bodyguard?_ The woman began to crack her knuckles quite loudly.

"Now to the matter at hand," began the Colonel. "A mutual friend seems to think that we could be of service to each other."

"How so?"

"I have information on a certain mutant fugitive that you have been hunting."

Sten groaned inwardly. _The boss is obsessed with those brothers._ "Which one?"

"Thomas Macarthur."

"What do you know about him?"

"He has spent most of the last year in the country of Wakanda."

"Wakanda? How would you know that?"

"Military Intelligence has been tracking as much foreign mutant activity as possible. Just in case other countries attempted to weaponized their mutants. I also have some of my own people in Wakanda. We researched that region because of a metal compound there that would have military applications. But we found another material that suited our needs."

"Is he still in Wakanda?"

"No, he landed in Alaska a week ago. We lost him there, but we found him again in Canada. I have people in Canada. They will follow him. I presume that he will eventually come back home. When he does, I will let you know, and your Marshalls can take him at the border."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because of our mutual friend. He has helped me in the past to acquire items that would cause too much suspicion through the normal channels. In turn I do him a couple of favors."

"Such as?"

"He borrowed one of my lead doctors for a certain surgical procedure I developed. The less you ask, the better."

"I understand. It does seem strange to me that a military scientist would be willing to work with a crime lord. Why would you do such a thing?"

"For the same reason that a U.S. Marshall would do so. Just like you, I share an opinion with our mutual friend; a common goal, if you will."

"And what's that?"

"The only good mutant..."

"Is a dead mutant," finished Sten.

But Stryker looked Sten hard in the face. "Killing them doesn't make them good." Sten shuddered a bit. "No, Marshall. The only good mutant is a mutant that you can control."

Sten raised his eyebrow, "How would you do that?"

"Our friend has his own method, and I have mine." Stryker glanced at the women in the corner.

Sten took a look over his shoulder at the woman. She sat upright and at attention. Sten knew that she was a dangerous woman just by the look of her, but he had no idea what kind of mutant traits lay hidden underneath. The idea that Stryker might have a way to control mutants both frighten and excited Sten. _This is my kind of man,_ he thought as he returned his focus to Stryker.

"Now part of my deal with our mutual friend is that I will receive a favor from you in return," said Stryker.

 _Ah, here's the catch._ Sten knew better than to believe in free information. "And what would that be?"

"Mr. Macarthur had a traveling companion, but they seemed to have split ways. I suspect, he will be entering the United States sooner than Mr. Macarthur. I need you to locate him for me. I might have a need for him in the near future."

"You seem pretty good at locating people. How can I do better?"

"The politicians are not keen on the idea of Military Intelligence spying on home soil, even if that is exactly what we need to counter the mutant threat."

"So you want the Marshall's to do it. Can you give me a description? Is this man a mutant?"

Stryker handed Sten a thumb drive. "His name is Kurt Wagner, alias: Nightcrawler, and yes, he is a mutant. A teleporter I hear."

"I can label him a known associate of Mr. Macarthur, and we will keep an eye on him. But this will not be easy. The politicians are not the only ones too sensitive to do what is necessary. I am making enemies within the U.S. Marshall's over my opinions on the mutant threat."

"Sounds like you could use a little more flexibility. I have a suggestion."

Sten leaned curiously closer to the military scientist. "What might that be?"

"Perhaps it is time for you to shed the Marshall's badge, and start your own agency."

"You're not telling me that you can arrange that. That would take a presidential decision or an act of Congress."

"No, I cannot do it, but the right politician might." Stryker wrote on a piece of paper. "Politicians are fickle. They say one thing, and then do another. I avoid them if I can. But there is one who might help you."

Stryker handed him the piece of paper. Written on it was a name. _Senator Robert Kelly._ "Thank you, Colonel. I am glad to know there are people in the military that share my concerns."

"You are welcome, Marshall Sten. And I will be happy to see a man in federal law enforcement who shares my concerns. My assistant, Yuriko, will show you out."

* * *

Strange company (two years prior to _X-Men_ )

Matthew felt that his whole life was gone. Lily was gone, Thomas was gone. He had nothing. He just wandered from town to town looking for work. He was not pleasant to be around anymore. If he had a job his co-workers would avoid him. Since he no longer had a reason to work he lost all motivation and got fired from several jobs. He would go some local dive bar at night and attempt to drink his problems away. He found this to be ineffective.

To top it all off Matthew's ability to foresee danger seemed to be giving off false signals. He would sense some nonspecific warning, but nothing would be threatening him. It was very unclear. It was as though he detecting a different type of threat. Or maybe it was just the threat of a wasted life.

One night in Boston after being fired from another job he went up to the bar and ordered a whiskey from the bartender. He was a quarter of the way through when he a warning instinct kicked in. This wasn't his mutant ability, but rather a gut instinct that developed from years of avoiding the law. It was that feeling of being watched.

Matthew casually scanned the bar. He saw no one who seemed like a cop. But there was one strange couple in the corner of the bar. They seemed out of place to Matthew. The woman was dressed in casual clothing. She seemed well kept, and her red hair was a little less that shoulder length. The man wore a leather biker's jacket. He probably did ride a bike, but he looked very reserved. _And why is he wearing sunglasses indoors at night?_ The visor on the man's face looked very strange to Matthew. He had never seen anything like it. _A fashion statement I guess. How does he see through those things?_

To make it worse they seemed to be devoting a lot of their attention his way.

His warning sense activated again. The threat was intangible, and he couldn't figure out what it was. He tried to shake it out of his head. He wanted to take another drink of his whiskey, but he had the feeling that he was going to need as much of his senses as possible.

His warning sense went off again. This time he noticed the woman staring right at him. She broke her gaze and spoke softly to the man. The man nodded to her, and then they both got up and slowly walked toward him. The woman went around him to sit on the bar stood to his right while the man sat on his left.

The man spoke first. "Hello. My name is Scott Summers."

"Good for you. Do you mind telling me why you have been watching me?"

The woman had an 'I told you so look' on her face. She nodded to the man.

"We have been watching you…for quite a while in fact. We have a proposal for you Mr. Macarthur."

At the sound of his own name Matthew reacted swiftly. Without missing a second he created a knife on his arm, dropped it into his right hand, and pressed the blade against the man's throat. "Care to explain how you know my name, Mr. Summers? And don't waste my time. I am not a patient man."

Summers was clearly taken by surprise. The woman flinched in surprise too. Matthew's second blade was now pointing at her. She froze in place, her eyes moving between the two knives.

"Jean?"

Matthew was trying to figure out what the guy was trying to get her to do when his warning sense alerted him to a new danger. He couldn't see this new threat, but it seemed like some sort of push. All he could do was brace for the impact he couldn't see.

The impact came, and Matthew was pushed off his stool and on to the ground. He rolled very quickly to his hands and knees and then to his feet. He took a combat stance, knives in hand.

One knife was yanked out of his hand by some invisible grip. He looked at his opponents and noticed the woman staring at him with concentration. The second knife was yanked out of his hand. _A telekinetic! This should be interesting._

Matthew would never actually hurt a woman whom he didn't know for sure to be an enemy, but they didn't know that. His plan was to throw a knife right by her to scare her. In one fluid motion he formed a small throwing knife, and raising his arm in overhead throwing position he threw it in the woman's general direction.

The knife never even got close to the woman. About halfway there it was hit by some strange red beam, and was knocked away. Before Matthew could even think about what had happened his warning sense alerted him to a new danger, and he moved quickly out of the way as a beam of red energy went through the space where he had just been standing. Matthew looked at the man, Summers, as he put his hand to a button on the side of his visor. Another red beam came from the visor. Matthew dodged this one too. _I guess that explains the visor._

Suddenly he felt an invisible grip around him. _The telekinetic has got me!_ The man took aim again.

"Scott, no!" the woman shouted.

Unable to move out of the way, Matthew armored his chest and took the blow of the red beam. It pushed him backward, and his warning sense told him of the window he was about to smash into. Armored again he broke clear through the window. He rolled out on to the street, but came to his feet quickly and unharmed. Deciding that this fight was not going to end well, he turned and ran down the street. After cutting through a few alleys and running a few blocks he felt confident that he had lost them.

He didn't know who these people were or what they wanted from him, but there was one thing he figured. _It is time to leave town._

* * *

The Professor

Within two hours of his encounter with Summers and the lady named Jean in the bar Matthew was on a train to New York. _If I can't hide in New York City then I can't hide anywhere._ He settled in a seat near the window. The space in front of him was designed as a place for a wheel chair to be secured. The place offer a good view of the train, so Matthew could see if anyone was following him. _As long as a handicap person doesn't come along. Oh crap!_

Just his luck a man in a power wheel chair rolled up. "May I join you here?"

"Sure go ahead."

The man steered his wheel chair into place opposite Matthew. He was bald white man maybe in his 50's. He sat in a powered wheel chair with four spokes on the big wheels in the shape of an X. He wore a nice striped suit with matching trousers. He moved his arms freely, but his legs never moved.

His companion was a much younger dark skinned woman. Her young body was offset by her long white hair. Matthew marveled at the woman's hair. _Premature white hair, or fashion statement?_

It was at that moment that Matthew started to get the feeling this meeting was no coincidence. The woman looked a bit nervous as though Matthew was about to attack her. The man stared Matthew right in the eyes.

"My name is Professor Charles Xavier. And I have been watching you for some time, Metalloy."

Matthew tensed up. _How did this man know my code name? Only Thomas, Nichol, and Lily know that name. And how has he been watching me? I'm pretty sure I could notice if a man in a wheelchair has been following me._

Matthew's warning system misfired again. _"_ _I know your code name and many things about you, Matthew."_

The words were in the wheelchair man's voice, but they were in his head. _How is that possible? How…_ And then it clicked. _He's a telepath!_ Now all of the misfires of Matthew's warning system made sense. _It was warning me that someone was in my head._

"Yes, Matthew, I am a telepath, and I can read your thoughts."

"You have been doing this for some time haven't you?"

"Yes."

"What gives you the right?"

"Nothing I suppose. I respected your right to privacy as much as possible, but I needed to know if you were the right person for my team."

"What team?"

"My team of mutants. I believe that mutants and humans can live together peacefully, and I work hard for this goal."

"Then why do you need a team?"

"For one I need teachers in my school, Xavier's School for the Gifted. It is a place where young mutants can live and learn in peace; where they can learn to control their abilities and use them to benefit our world. I understand that you hold education in high regard and that you have an interest in history.

"Second, not all mutants believe in this peace like I do. Some believe a war is coming, Matthew, and some of them are even looking to start this war themselves. Someone needs to be equipped to oppose such groups."

"I suppose Summers and the telekinetic girl are part of your team."

"Yes, Scott Summers is the team leader, and Dr. Jean Grey is another member. Ororo Munroe here is also a team member."

The woman with the white hair nodded her head.

"Why me? I am an aimless drifter on his way to becoming a drunk."

"I know you think you are a lost soul, Matthew, but I think that you are a good and noble man, who is not inclined to senseless violence. You are the type of man I need." _"I know about your wife, Matthew. I know you are in pain. I can't give you back that life, but I wish to offer you another life, a life that once again has meaning."_ "Will you give us a chance?"

"I don't know about this, Professor." Matthew paused at the proposition. _It's not like I have any better offers,_ Matthew thought before he remember that this man in the wheelchair could probably hear his thoughts. But then a new thought popped into his head. "If you know so much about me, then you must also know that I am a wanted man. Isn't that going to be an issue?"

Ororo gave a surprised look to the Professor, but the Professor didn't react. "No, I don't believe that will be an issue. Those who are searching for you are not searching all that hard. I think we can keep you out of their hands. Our location is a bit off the beaten track."

"Where is this school?"

"New York State."

Matthew stared out the window for a bit. Professor Xavier leaned in closer. "Matthew, all I ask is that you give us a chance. Come, see what we are doing. If in a few weeks you find that it is not the place for you, then leave. You will not be worse off for it."

Matthew thought some more, but realizing he couldn't hide his thoughts from this man, he decided to make a conversation out of it. _Are you sure that I'm the guy you want for your team?_

 _"Yes, Matthew, I have been watching you for some time."_

 _Even with my history, my background?_

 _"Yes, I believe that you are a good man."_

 _Professor, the authorities may still be after me, and my upbringing wasn't exactly ideal._

 _"We can protect you from the authorities. You don't have to run anymore. And, Matthew, you are not your father. I would like the chance to show this to you. Will you join us? Will you become one of my X-Men?"_


End file.
